The headline might suggest that I have the virus named COVID-19 but that’s not the case. Perhaps a more appropriate title for this post would be “What are we up to now that the entire world is on high alert to prevent COVID-19 from taking over?”
For anyone reading this in the future, there was a virus outbreak in the year 2020 which made society halt in its tracks. Schools and daycares are currently closed for a period of three weeks in Ontario. If people are able to work from home, they do so. Citizens of Canada have oddly stockpiled toilet paper of all things which is odd. You would think they would have stockpiled beer.
Here are some things that are going through my head after a week of ‘social distancing’.
Leaving work
Last Friday it was becoming apparent that this was getting quite serious. We were hearing rumblings of the virus over the past few months as it made its way from its origin point in China. I was still going to work but adopting some ‘more hygienic than I usually am’ procedures. For example, I washed my hands after going outside or for a break around the work building. My hands have become more dry. If you want to understand how my hands felt just look at this hilarious picture from Terminator 2 that I saw on Facebook when someone asked how their hands felt.
My ongoing joke at work was this virus didn’t make people more hygienic, it just made society realize that they weren’t even up to the norms of what we SHOULD be doing.
I made the decision on Thursday evening to ask to work from home for the foreseeable future and asked my manager about it the next day. I packed my bag and headed home with all my work equipment. In hindsight, me asking for permission to work from home was a little premature as we all received notice to work from home on the Sunday. There were still a few people going into work due to the critical nature of their job but I was at home. However, the network could only handle so much of us at a time so we were ordered not to connect to the network at all in the first week.
Daycare closing
I’m not one to chat about work too much on this blog so let’s switch gears. On the same Friday afternoon we received word that Sierra’s daycare would be closing for three weeks. This was unprecedented. Parents everywhere were scratching their heads wondering how they would deal with their kids for an extended amount of time.
Vero is still off on maternity leave with Ezra so me being home would only help her with the burden of looking after two kids.
After the first two days I was really struggling with this new reality. What were we to do with Sierra during this time? We have to practice social distancing which involved not hanging out with friends and making sure we were two meters apart for no more than 15 minutes at a time. Kids don’t understand that concept so it’s just easier to keep them inside. But how were we going to do this for three weeks? In fact, as I type this, all indications show that this won’t be over in just three weeks.
My change of attitude
It was pretty early in the week that I changed my entire attitude to the whole thing. Reports from Italy show a lot of the population dying. I took a cold hard look at my reality and thought to myself “What would I be doing right now if I had won the lottery?” The answer was clear: “I would be spending time with my family. As much time as I could.” I realized that I had been presented a blessing. I could spend time with Vero and my two kids. This really shook me up and gave me a little hope in this strange time. If the worst thing that can hit me is I have to spend time looking after my kids every day for the rest of my life…is that really a bad thing?
My routine
Other than working, I decided that Sierra really needed to burn off some energy each day so I tried to figure out how to do that while maintaining social distancing.
Day 2 – It was raining outside so I moved the cars out of the garage and set up some soccer goal posts. We even had a chalkboard to mark the score!
Day 2 – Ty and Dana were putting on a St. Patrick’s day livestream as all the pubs were closed. It was a great time and Ezra really seemed to enjoy it.
Day 3 – Wednesday morning we learned the fun of kicking a piece of hard snow down the road and how it reduces in size. That morning I also introduced Sierra to a beloved past time of all kids in Canada….breaking the thin ice on puddles! We also went hunting this morning…we were on the hunt for birds, squirrels, elephants and giraffes (real ones, not the one on the balloon that I was carrying).
Day 3 – Ezra and Maman sleep in quite late in the morning generally because Ezra doesn’t sleep well through the night yet. So when the afternoon hits we go out for a break together. Here is Sierra on her bicycle.
Day 4 – I was getting bored of walking up and down the street each morning and I realized that we live near some pretty great forests. Sierra and I ventured out into Larose Forest one morning. We were on the hunt for the big bad wolf and Swiper the Fox. We didn’t see either of them.
Day 4 – I really contemplated ordering these things so Sierra could play with her friends.
Day 4 – We took a walk in the Larose Forest again in the afternoon. We checked out a new trail which was quite icy.
Day 5 – It was raining this morning and was cool. Sierra and I walked onto a ski trail in Larose Forest which was mainly ice so I don’t think there will be any skiers there for the foreseeable future. We have been learning about the world during these walks. The other day we talked about pirates and here in this video, you can see that she had been asking about rain and why did it rain on us. Hilariously I think she was talking about ‘fruits’ but I misheard it as ‘frites’.
Day 5 – Snacks are always the best part about our walks.
Day 5 – It was 17 degrees outside on Friday afternoon. Here was Sierra taking in the wind as it was too hot with her hat on.
Day 6 – Where is Sierra?! We checked out the conservation area in Russell which was pure ice the entire walk but it’s still a lovely area to explore.
We have definitely explored a lot outside in the past week. It’s been fun! Some days Sierra is more excited than others. It’s great when Ezra wakes up and we can all go exploring together. We also spend a lot of time on the swing set in the backyard and have made a few campfires. Vero and I try and squeeze some television shows in together during the evening when the kids are sleeping. Generally Ezra’s naps range from 20-60 minutes so it’s a lot of pausing television when he gets up and needs something. We are currently watching This Is Us, season 4.
What else are we doing?
I am playing a lot of Carcasonne on the iPad against Mom. We video chat a lot more with family these days. I had a video conference with some friends last night over a beer which was fun.
How am I feeling?
I think I generally have a positive attitude of the whole thing but the spectre of fear is always creeping in. I worry sometimes about supplies. “Do we have enough food?” I went out on a Tuesday to Shopper’s Drug Mart and got one thing off my list of seven items. Is this the new norm or are we just in a weird spot where everyone stockpiled their pantries and it will take a few weeks for more supplies to come in? We are planning on going to Costco this coming week where we heard they limit the amount of people going into the store. Will this results in hour long lineups? We don’t know yet.
Facebook is an interesting wealth of information and misinformation at the same time. One good thing that has come from it is I saw a video by Dr. Andy Thompson of London, ON and he makes short, informative videos about the virus. I check out his videos every day to keep up to date.
A lot of the information needs to be fact-checked. The other day we read an article saying that the World Health Organization says ibuprofen is bad if you have the virus. Then a few days later Health Canada says that this isn’t scientifically proven yet. But we just took it at face value considering an article mentioned the WHO. We never even bothered looking at the actual WHO website to see if they had in fact said this or not. So…all information has to be analyzed. Even Dr. Andy Thompson’s videos could be fiction and I should double check his stats.
Vero is wondering what her return to work in three weeks is going to be like. Will she have to report to work? Can she work from home? What will it be like with me looking after a baby who doesn’t sleep through the night and a toddler? (my theory: it will be just like my own mother back in the 1980s!) Will we encounter pay issues in having me transition out of work for parental leave and Vero transition back in? All these little questions are in our heads right now along with the constant ever changing landscape which is the world right now.
But for now, we’re doing really good. I guess I have to figure out where we are going to explore today. Bonus note of the day: I obtained a leaked copy of the new Pearl Jam album and it’s pretty great so far!