So here I am looking back at this past month and thinking how much has changed. The coronavirus has changed the way of life for all of us in a matter of a few weeks and it's hard to make sense of or know what is happening. Day to day things change as new closures and travel restrictions were put in place and kids are brought home from school to start "home learning." It has all been so sudden and crazy around here! Josh and I had a trip to Costa Rica planned and missed the chance to do that as borders have closed in countries around the world. Two days before our trip I was sure we would still be able to go. And then, just like that, the border closed, we got emails from the houses we had rented to cancel our stay and we were issued refunds from Delta Airlines and VRBO. We realized that we were getting into something that we had not anticipated and that life was going to slow down significantly for a while. It seemed that in a matter of a few days everything that we had planned was cancelled or closed. We settled in to a "new normal" as we were all home together doing school and Josh was home working. It has been wild and crazy, but really simple all at the same time. Who knows how long this will last or what life will be like in the months to come. But here's a peek into the month that has been March...
Now that we had the time, we found some fun things to do together. We made bread, played hide and seek at the school, admired the beautiful sunrises, laughed like crazy at all the memes going around about the pandemic and got a new wifi router to support all the computers and chromebooks that were trying to stay connected at the same time!
My suitcase from our trip stayed packed (because I was in a bit of mourning over our lost trip), we bought a truck and made room for it in the garage, realized that there was not toilet paper or bread to be found, visited Papa and Grammie who were camping at Deer Creek in their trailer and found out my marathon was postponed.
Costco trips became an event as we were limited to how many could be in the store at the same time and lists of items were out of stock, we made group crafts and got our favorite treat before the restaurants closed.
We took time for some group exercise and the kids worked hard at their online learning.
We took hikes and enjoyed the outdoors as this is one of the things that are "legal" around here now. Josh bought me a mountain bike and we're looking forward to doing the outdoor things that might be all that we're able to do for a while! And I will admit we have had to sneak around a little bit as gyms, restaurants, theaters and all gatherings over 10 have been banned for now - we do what we can with those that we feel we can still gather with. The Tarbets have graciously let us use their home gym in the garage, the "basketball babes" became the "secret ball babes" to include only those that won't be offended that we're still playing during the pandemic, Josh and I and Mark and Shelley Chalk have taken up playing pickleball twice a week at our church (with the doors closed and locked so no one kicks us out), and we invite mom and dad Losee over almost weekly for home church with us and have loved every minute of being with them! Grammie has become quite the "Secret Hitler" player and we play almost weekly with them. So, it hasn't been all bad. Though it seems like we've been so limited on what we can do, we have taken full advantage of family time and will not forget what we've been able to do together with nothing else on our calendars for the foreseeable future. We are blessed and we know it. But hopefully this pandemic doesn't last forever and we can start buying toilet paper again!
This is an interesting timeline of events and surely shows how quickly and widespread the virus has gone...
January:
An outbreak of a virus in China starts to make headlines as the first death is recorded on January 11.
Jan 26th- The US has 5 cases
Jan 31st - American, Delta and United airlines suspend flights to and from China
February:
Feb 4th - Four Utahns among those quarantined on a cruise ship after passengers were infected
Feb 29th - China orders lockdown of 60 million people. First US citizen dies from virus
March:
March 6th - First case in Utah is confirmed
March 11th - Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert tests positive for virus. Jazz game against Oklahoma City is stopped before tip-off and the NBA suspends its season
March 12th - Utah schools dismiss classes and begin a 2 week "soft closure"
NCAA cancels March Madness
Disneyland announces closure
Gatherings limited to 100 people
April General Conference announced as virtual event
Hale Center Theatre announces postponed shows
Megaplex theaters announce closure
March 15th - Utah reports 28 confirmed cases
March 16th - Governor Herbert announces closure of all Utah restaurants to dine-in customers
March 17th - Utah concerned about toilet paper shortage as stores cannot keep it in stock
March 18th - 5.7 magnitude earthquake shakes Salt Lake County
LDS church announces temple closures
March 19th - Salt Lake County bans gatherings of more than 10 people
LDS church transitions to at-home church
March 22nd - Thousands of LDS missionaries return to home from their assignments
March 24th - Olympic Games scheduled for Tokyo are postponed
March 27th - Governor Herbert issues "Stay Safe, Stay Home" directive for Utah
$2.2 trillion relief package signed by President Trump
