Note: This post was written on Sunday, March 15, 2020.
Last week, my mom and I were treating ourselves to the food and fashion of Franklin, TN during a little Spring Break getaway. This week, I’m preparing to hunker down in my condo and work remotely for the unforeseen future, stocked up on frozen foods but unable to find toilet paper in any store—a stark contrast from one week to the other.
Everything has changed so quickly, I haven’t really had time to process it all. In a meeting on Tuesday, March 10th, we learned that our student-athletes would not be participating in postgame handshake lines. But by Thursday, March 12th, the NCAA decided to cancel all remaining spring sporting events. I still don’t think it has sunk in that I won’t be watching any March Madness or College World Series games this year. I’m sad for our student-athletes, and I’m honestly a little lost without any live sports to watch on TV.
As I usually do in stressful situations, I went into logistics mode once we heard that students would be leaving campus and classes would all be online. How can we serve our students remotely? What programs do we need to cancel? What can we do to support faculty? What files on my computer do I need to transfer over to the cloud? I forgot initially that I’m also a student, and later wondered how I would finish my own PhD coursework this semester.
Having a grasp on the details and putting a plan in place gives me peace of mind in a time of chaos. However, it didn’t hit me until Friday evening just how tense and tired I was. I fell asleep at home, sitting up in a chair, around 7:30 p.m. I woke up at 10:00 p.m., unsure of what day it was (I have a feeling I’ll experience this many times in the weeks to come). I was then awake until 3:00 a.m. worrying about all of the things I hadn’t taken the time to consider during the whirlwind that was this past week. Everything from, “Do I have enough Coke Zero?”, to, “How can we make sure my dad doesn’t get exposed to this virus?”
On Saturday I barely moved from the recliner, binge watching the miniseries Four Weddings and a Funeral on Hulu (Thank you, Mindy Kaling!). I had such high hopes for a productive weekend of cleaning and organizing, but my body wasn’t having it. I finally left my house around 8:00 p.m. to search for TP, but to no avail. On Sunday, I spent time with my friend Ruthie, both of us wondering if this would be the last time we’d get to hang out for a while (please say it isn't so). I also saw my niece and nephew for a little bit so I could give them their St. Patrick’s Day treats. My sweet niece has decorated the dining room like a classroom in preparation for weeks of homeschooling, complete with a wall calendar, weather chart, lunch count, and chair tags—it really warmed my former elementary school teacher heart. Honestly, the thought of not seeing my McNuggets for an unknown amount of time is too much for me to handle right now, so I’m not allowing my mind to go there. I'm grateful for my friends and family, and for the technology that allows us to stay connected.
We haven’t even officially started working remotely, but I already miss my work peeps. Also, my sister just started working with me, but it looks like our regular lunch breaks are going to have to wait a little while. This extrovert is going to STRUGGLE without daily face-to-face connections, y'all. Meanwhile, how is this all going to work? Do I get dressed in business casual clothing like I would normally or do I just roll out of bed to my desk/dining room table each morning in yoga pants (Spoiler alert: it's the second one)? I miss my students already. I hope they are all safe and well, able to adjust smoothly to life away from friends, faculty , and staff with all online classes. I'm grateful to work for a university that has acted calmly but swiftly in the face of these uncertain times to keep our campus safe.
In this unprecedented time for our communities, I hope that everyone is finding strength and joy while adjusting to a new "normal". It is comforting knowing that we are all in this together, even if we can't actually be together in the same room. With new information coming in daily and circumstances changing so rapidly, I'm sure things will be different even by the time this post is published. Nevertheless, I believe it will be interesting to look back and read about these days once we get through this, so I'll continue to blog as time allows (um, obviously time is going to allow-let's not kid ourselves). In the meantime, if you need some meatballs, I'll trade you for some toilet paper (right, Jenny?). Stay well, friends.
P.S. Here are some helpful websites I've seen on social media over the past few days, especially for my educator and parent friends:
Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems (One of my favorite children's authors!)
Storyline Online (Celebrities read stories to children-love it!)
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