In the time of the pandemic

What a week. First, M & I are now both required to work remotely. Sounds fun, but we have no office/desk space. No office furniture, and have an open floor plan. No problem, we ordered some furniture & had planned to convert a formal dining room into an office. We can just accelerate that. Then schools were cancelled. Keeping the kids occupied for four weeks (maybe with online learning?) means that we all need home set ups. Our house is definitely not designed for this.

We are so very lucky. We have an amazing employer. When the school closures began, they offered everyone two weeks of additional leave. And, if you can work flexed hours, no problem/no questions. We also have the funds to buy some extra furniture to make our space more comfortable for indefinite work from home, and to buy extra groceries here and there, so we don't have to go out. I also can afford to pay more for a few things, so I can avoid most of the madness. I know many, many people don't have this good fortune. They may be already laid off, because their jobs are in the service sector. Or, they may need to stay home to take care of young kids. We made a large donation today that's totally not in the budget, because it's so important to us right now to help other people who are struggling.

We are also working in our neighborhood to provide support to the elderly, who may not want to make a trip to the grocery store.

We are most likely going to head to our vacation house next week, and work remotely from there. My parents are close by, and can take the boys here and there, breaking up the long break from routine & providing a change of pace & support.

We went to the stores today, and M waited several hours to even get into Costco. At the local stores, the shelves were cleared out of: bread, milk, rice, pasta, Top Ramen, frozen fruit, veggies, and meat. It was really crazy.  But, we have plenty to feed our family, & we will be fine.

I'm focused on what I can do around the house today, as we're encouraged to avoid crowded places. Here's my plan:

• Make pico de gallo
• And guacamole
• For dinner - taco slaw
• Work on our "family schedule" for next week, which is shaping up to be super crazy with all of the balls we're going to need to juggle
• Yoga!
• Meditate
• Journal

We are working on being flexible & adaptive, focusing on the positives, and supporting others. WE know this is the beginning of a long phase of time where we need to all work together. What's it like around your neighborhood?