Day 7 of Self-Distancing

We are now on our 7th day of social distancing. It has been both harder and easier than I thought. The social distancing itself is not too bad. But, I am starting to feel emotional unease from all of the unknowns. Some reports say that this could go on as long as 18 months! I don't think that is realistic or likely, but, I want to know a concrete plan. I want information, but the information I am getting is scattered and inconsistent. And, I hate relying on others to do the right thing. I see tons of kids playing together in the parks (close games like basketball where large groups are within inches of each other). On Wednesday, I had to go into work. I was looking forward to a light traffic day. But, until I got close to work, which is right near the shuttered UCF, it felt like a normal Wednesday. I always hated group assignments because people never seemed to do what I thought they should be doing. Frankly, I would rather just do it all myself. And, in this instance that is not possible, we need global cooperation and I'm not seeing it. It makes me feel bitter, almost like the examples of socialism. The "bad" are counting on the "good" to provide enough of a buffer for everyone or, maybe more likely, they just don't feel personally invested enough to make changes.

Of course, I am still seeing plenty of good--the people who go to work everyday so we have groceries and others offering help to those in need. Maybe this will be an opportunity for all of us to pull closer together?

I do like teleworking. I have always enjoyed working from home and find that I am just as productive from my comfy chair as I am from my office. Previously, I have only teleworked when I had a reason, typically an event with the kids where I wanted to take a few hours off in the middle of the day. So, this all day every day is completely new. I enjoy not getting dressed and we are saving so much time by not having to commute. We are fortunate that 3/4 of our kids are self-sufficient. And, the 3/4 can help with the 1/4 that is not. Last week was Spring Break and the kids have one more week before their digital school starts. Once that happens, we have a schedule planned where Thomas and I will space out our work days so that one of us can help with school between 10-2. Then, one of us will be off work by 4. I think it will work well.

The kids have adjusted fairly well. Anna, Kara and Luke have been spending a lot of time in the pool. I would estimate around 3 hours a day for the girls and a little less for Luke. Occasionally Thomas, Jack and I join in and the six of us (or, some combination thereof) swim together. Or, more accurately have contests to see who can make the biggest cannonball splash, knock each other off floats, shoot waterguns, etc. Yesterday, I did laundry with 17 towels :) We are all reading a lot and have started watching Star Wars. We are going to watch the 11 movies in 11 days (the 9 movies plus Rogue One and Solo). We are two days in.

We have also done daily bike rides, which I really enjoy. Our neighborhood is great for riding bikes. Friday, we delivered a birthday present to one of Luke's friends via bike and got trapped in his gated community. The gated neighborhoods here are weird. The gates aren't manned, they rely on people stopping, talking to a guard via some sort of intercom, and inserting their license. We did all that, the gate opened and we rode into the neighborhood. Then, when it was time to leave, our bikes weren't big enough to trigger the gate to open. I assumed we could go out one of the walking gates, but they were locked from the inside as well (maybe to prevent people from reaching in to open them?). Fortunately, we did not have to wait long before someone came along and helped us out. But, that was the excitement for the day.

So, we are spending our days reading, riding bikes, swimming, playing games, singing karaoke, and doing electronics.