Groundhog Days

Five asked me on Monday if I have ever experienced something like this pandemic.

"Not really," I said. "It feels a lot like 9/11, in that people aren't sure what's going to happen next. And we can't travel. And we're waiting for the next bad thing."

A few days later the vibe is more like Snowpocalypse 2011. My mother had just moved in with us so we could care for her as she battled pulmonary fibrosis. Coming on the heels of Hurricane Irene, the early October storm dumped over a foot of snow onto trees still laden with leaves. That night we could hear them snapping in the woods, followed by the pop of exploding sub-stations. We were without power for weeks until a utility crew from Illinois made it into our neighborhood. Schools closed, Halloween was canceled, and The Captain and the boys had to trudge up our impassable driveway every few days to carry oxygen tanks down for my mother.

We finally got a loaner generator from one of Cap's friends, which meant we could run a refrigerator and space heaters for my mom and Cap's parents. But that meant I spent most of the day driving to find gas stations that could fill my gallon containers. With the remaining daylight I had to take care of everything else-food, kids, laundry, mom. By nightfall, I was exhausted.

This feels like that.

Every morning I wake up much later than I should. I spray disinfect the light switches and door handles and peroxide wipe the bathrooms and kitchen. I bake muffins or make pancakes because I have boxes of those and it makes the kids happy. Then I usually have an errand to accomplish-lizards for the crickets, mailing medications to my in-laws in Florida, gas for the cars. Every day Four and I have to accomplish school work, which is stressing him out. I try and make everyone go outside in nature once a day, including me and Cap. There is laundry to wash, dinner to make, and occasional sewing. I've put loops on towels and given everyone a hook so they have a dedicated place to dry their hands. Cap and I try and get a grip on paperwork and bills. That gets more scary each day. I make us play a game at night so we share some laughs.

I have eleven people sharing bandwidth as we school, work, and play from home. Two days ago I went to BestBuy and bought whole house wifi. Tonight I spent an hour on the phone with a remarkably patient and kind tech who helped me figure out why the nodes weren't connecting to my modem. At the end of the process I had to name my network and create a password.

When my in-laws return from Florida and ask why they can't connect to the internet I get to tell them to choose the one labeled TrumpSucks.

In these trying times, we have to claim our small victories. Because tomorrow we do this all over again.