To Remember This Time: Day 1

Wednesday, March 11, was our last normal day.

The next day, Thursday, March 12, it was as if I had awoken into a new world, and my activity and focus shifted so drastically I felt as if I would get whiplash.

Jeff went to work as usual, but at some point in the day, he encouraged me to go shopping for food.  And so on a Thursday afternoon when I would normally have been on the campus of George Mason University for a Bible study with a friend, she and I agreed to meet only in cyberspace rather than in person; and then when I realized I needed to brave the craziness to go grocery shopping, I ended up cancelling (which I was disappointed to have to do).

I had heard about the shortages that were beginning to be felt in the stores, but this was my first chance to see it for myself.  Aldi, our favorite grocery store by far here in this area, was my destination.

Not surprisingly, there were no rolls of toilet paper, no packages of napkins, and only one package of paper towels that had already been opened and then discarded on the shelf.  I was grateful I wasn't in urgent need of any of those items!

Moriah was with me, and we walked up and down every aisle, checking off items on my list and also adding things to the cart that weren't on the list but we thought might be helpful in the future.  Our cart was full by the end, but you know, that's not even unusual for us--large(ish) family problems!  Haha!  :)

The mood in the store was sober, to be sure, but we didn't see a single incidence of hostility or rudeness.  People were still considerate to each other, and I made sure to let a customer with a smaller number of items than I had go in front of us and also took a second to speak words of kindness and gratitude to the cashier.  Aldi cashiers are amazing, anyway, but doubly so in such situations.  :)

At home, it took me a while to unpack the groceries and find places for the food; I had to rearrange some things in our refrigerator and freezer to make it all fit.  Then I prepared a simple meal of burritos for diner, which the kids love.  It's not unusual for us to have dinner guests on Thursdays, but even if not for the threat of COVID-19, we wouldn't have done so on this day because the kids had been passing around germs--just a simple sore throat/runny nose/headache kind of thing, not the coronavirus--and Josiah and Moriah were still feeling poorly.

Social distancing--that phrase that we'd never heard of before a few days ago--was beginning.

After dinner, the kids and I stayed up late and watched the movie Mr. Holland's Opus which was fun; and then, even later, after all the kids were in bed, I had the ridiculous but understandable idea to make a super-quick trip to Harrisonburg on Friday.  Why?  Because I had heard that certain supplies might be easier to find there (toilet paper, for example, because even though we had some extra rolls, I wasn't sure we had enough for an extended confinement--I had never really paid attention to the amount of our toilet paper usage before, so I had no idea how to estimate how long our present supply would last!), but even more, so that I could see my parents in person one last time before we all became shut-ins.  

My dad was sick; and although I didn't really think it was COVID-19 (and indeed, it turned out to be the regular flu, even though he had a flu shot last fall), I was still longing to see him and my mother.  I knew an extended separation was coming, and I hadn't even gone to Harrisonburg on the preceding Monday because of a grand plan I had had for the reorganization of our downstairs room, and I needed the time that Monday to work on it.  If I had had any idea of how things would develop, I would have for sure gone to Harrisonburg on March 9 so I could have seen Mom and Dad!  But things were changing so rapidly that literally every day we woke up to a new reality.  How could I have known?

At any rate, Jeff listened compassionately to my desire to go see my parents, but then he wisely persuaded me not to.  Of course he was right.  The incubation period is so long for this virus that I could have been a carrier, and wouldn't I have been devastated if my parents got it from me?  

And so I went to sleep, praying for God to protect my parents and wondering when I would get to see them face to face again.

Day One of the coronavirus radically rearranging my schedule and my life was over.