Social Distancing Days 1-5: Coronacation and surviving the first week
(I thought it would be good to document our family's experience during COVID-19 - something for us (and our kids) to look back on one day about what it was like when we were "social distancing" ourselves from one other during the coronovirus pandemic that hit the entire world in March 2020. This one's a longer post because...well...it's five days of pandemonium summed up into one blog post.)
Every year my company, Assurity, brings a few individuals together within our company to plan for the possibility of a potential disaster - a fire, a tornado, something worse perhaps. A few weeks ago our Business Continuity Planning team connected once again and we discussed the "P" word: Pandemic. What if this coronovirus "thing" gets truly out of hand and we have to send everyone home to work remote? Would we be prepared? Who are our essential people that would have to be in the building? What would we communicate to our customers, distributors, etc? We got things ready, just in case - including training our call center people on how to answer phone calls remotely, testing our IT infrastructure, and so much more.
And here we are.
Two weeks later and we're all home.
We knew what was happening to the rest of the world, but we didn't know how bad it would get in the U.S. Following my last BCP meeting at work two weeks ago, Kyle and I debated whether to still travel to K.C. for a short get-away we had planned with the kids to Legoland and CocoKeys Indoor Water Resort. I'm both grateful we chose to go, and feeling a bit silly. Grateful because, in hindsight, it was probably the last "fun" thing we did outside our doors before shit hit the fan (sorry, mom). Silly because last night I learned Kansas City metro area is now under a stay-at-home order as the coronovirus spreads there.
But, while in KC, we got to take a mindful break from what was happening in the world. There really wasn't too many people at either place we visited, and probably only three other families at Brio restaurant, which we ate at the last night there - a very popular Italian restaurant in the Crown Center plaza area. Usually bustling with people and difficult to get seated within an hour, we were directed to our booth right away and given attentive service. Also, the wine was great (and much needed). The staff at Legoland was understandably obsessed with squirting every child with Purel hand sanitizer after each activity spot. And Coco Keys was like bathing in bleach all day - so we basically neutralized ourselves before heading back home. I feel good about that.
We got home Sunday night (had to make a stop at IKEA first, of course). But, the world had changed overnight. Kyle had already received a call from his company, Talent Plus, that everyone would be working remote the next week. I received a message from my boss Sunday night saying "don't come in, stay home." Our company was about to enact our disaster plan...everything we had prepared for was now coming to light. That same night Bennet Elementary called all families and posted to their website that students would not report to school on Monday. LPS had already shut down schools in Lincoln for the week.
Day 1-5 last week was crazy, overwhelming, emotional and confusing. The best way to sum up our first week as work-from-home-homeschooling-parents was like playing air traffic controller with all parts of your life at once. It went something like this:
Kyle: "Okay, I set up two spaces for us to work. Today, I'll work in the office, and you can be upstairs."
Beth: "Great, we got this. I made a schedule for the kids for the entire day, broken down by the half hour, to keep their attention and so they don't notice how much we're ignoring them." (LOL)
Kyle: "Beth, can you tell the kids to be quiet upstairs? I'm on a conference call."
Beth: "I'm on a conference call too. This isn't working. Kids! Go outside...for at least an hour! Don't get injured."
Kyle: "Beth, do you know if the kids ate this morning?"
Beth: "No, I thought you fed them. Well, it's 1p.m. so we should probably feed them lunch. Honestly, I've drank 50 ounces of spark today and haven't eaten myself." (Oops)
So Day 1 was trial by fire. Actually, it was terrible (laughing as I'm writing this). Let's just say we learned some lessons. We headed into Day 2 with, what we thought, would be a better plan. Not so much.
Kyle: "Okay, I have an idea. I created an outdoor quest for the kids that will engage them for a couple of hours today. They need to find different animals, insects, mammals and write about them and draw pictures."
Beth: "Love it! Husband of the year! I'll add it to the schedule today. Maybe I'll stick it after arts and crafts."
(Fast forward to after arts and crafts. Basically what unfolded was Jaxon took off and accomplished the task in 10 minutes, and Norah has been sobbing to me for an hour on why she can't do it.)
Beth: "Kyle, this is the worst idea ever. Can you get up here and help? Kyle....you there?" (I was texting him because he was downstairs on a call.)
(crickets for the longest time)
(complete Norah meltdown by this point)
Kyle: "Sorry honey, I was on a call and couldn't answer. What happened?"
Beth: "I need wine."
(We drank a lot of wine and bourbon that night.)
Day 3 was...better? I actually headed into work that day because it was our last chance (until the forseeable future) for us to conduct a video shoot to complete out our annual report. We didn't know when people would be back in the office again. I was there all day and Kyle was home. So, we asked cousin Shelby to come by Wednesday and Thursday to watch the kids and keep them focused. She was a LIFESAVER! The kids also received their online classwork on Wednesday so we could get started on some real school work during our days at home. Unfortunately, while a normal school day lasts 7 hours, they were completing a day's worth of school work in 30 minutes. But with Shelby, they played hide-and-seek outside together, got some education in, limited amount of screen time, changed out of their pajamas, and enjoyed all three meals of the day.
Day 4 we switched-up some things. Kyle and I switched office spots because I had 5 video conference calls that day, so I worked in the office and then we completely overhauled our basement to make a temporary make-shift office for Kyle. Kids were with Shelby so we were able to navigate the day much better, and without the lingering parent-guilt. We also tried to do a MUCH better job of taking breaks. I'm a pretty focused person, so I know it's hard for me to break away from something when I'm in "flow" with work or a project. But I was surprised how hard it truly was. We forced ourselves to break for things like: going to the bathroom, eating, hydrating, saying hello to our children and hanging out with them for a bit. It all sounds sad and funny that we even have to do that, but it's reality. Working from home for a day here or there is one thing (which we've all done before, no problem), but to do it full-time AND with children at home, well, it's totally different. Every stay-at-home mom in the world will NEVER get any more flack from anyone ever again. Just sayin'.
Day 5 - it's Friday! We made it. First week socially distancing ourselves has come to a conclusion. I don't think I ever worked harder on all facets of my life at once. We gave Shelby a break and it was just us and the kids on Friday, and it went pretty well. The kids are starting to understand what's going on, that mommy and daddy aren't perfect but we're working hard each day to get better at this and create some normalcy. We talked with them about COVID-19 and answered their questions and nurtured their worries. Jaxon understands it and bounces pretty well. Norah has been a bit more emotional and confused and I'm guessing it's because of the significant changes both at school and home, so we're working on that. We allowed Jaxon to start a private YouTube channel of his card tricks and magic tricks, so he's been having fun with that (give him a like if you have a moment, he'll love it). We also set up both kids with Facebook Messenger for Kids so they can chat and video chat with their 3rd and 1st grade friends, and grandparents. I think it was one of the best decisions we made - social distancing from friends is hard, but we live in a world where technology can be our best resource right now. And we're using it.
On Friday, we prepared a nice meal at home and sat around the table as a family and....sighed. We got through our first week of social distancing, working remotely, homeschooling our kids and only interacting with each other (for the later part of the week anyway). Two months ago we had also learned Norah was diagnosed with Celiac Disease, so we've been navigating COVID-19 while also navigating the gluten-free life at home. It's a lot all at once but we are learning (and have learned) a lot. Even promises we had made to our kids at the beginning of the week, such as picking up a game I had promised Jaxon, changed by the end of the week to keep our family safe and away from others. I'm confident next week will be better! The weekend holds TIME - time to breathe, time to focus on our kids only, time to get things done around the house without the usual distractions, and it even holds a virtual happy hour with friends and a virtual family dinner night with my family. Looking forward to this.
While we know we are not anywhere close to the end of this pandemic (check out this link on number of U.S. cases updated daily - what's crazy is 2 days ago this was 10K and now we're approaching 30K; in fact, by the time you read this it’s probably doubled again), and we know there will be long-term economic impact to come out of this, and we also know we can completely screw this up if we don't #stayathome right now, there's also something beautiful in connecting with everyone in new ways. A week ago I never imagined a virtual happy hour with my friends or team members, but here we are. It'll be interesting to see what changes people make will stick for the long haul, and how business and social interaction will change indefinitely.
Love and miss you all, stay safe and healthy....and remember to #stayathome to help #flattenthecurve!
Beth, Kyle, Jaxon and Norah
Every year my company, Assurity, brings a few individuals together within our company to plan for the possibility of a potential disaster - a fire, a tornado, something worse perhaps. A few weeks ago our Business Continuity Planning team connected once again and we discussed the "P" word: Pandemic. What if this coronovirus "thing" gets truly out of hand and we have to send everyone home to work remote? Would we be prepared? Who are our essential people that would have to be in the building? What would we communicate to our customers, distributors, etc? We got things ready, just in case - including training our call center people on how to answer phone calls remotely, testing our IT infrastructure, and so much more.
And here we are.
Two weeks later and we're all home.
We knew what was happening to the rest of the world, but we didn't know how bad it would get in the U.S. Following my last BCP meeting at work two weeks ago, Kyle and I debated whether to still travel to K.C. for a short get-away we had planned with the kids to Legoland and CocoKeys Indoor Water Resort. I'm both grateful we chose to go, and feeling a bit silly. Grateful because, in hindsight, it was probably the last "fun" thing we did outside our doors before shit hit the fan (sorry, mom). Silly because last night I learned Kansas City metro area is now under a stay-at-home order as the coronovirus spreads there.
But, while in KC, we got to take a mindful break from what was happening in the world. There really wasn't too many people at either place we visited, and probably only three other families at Brio restaurant, which we ate at the last night there - a very popular Italian restaurant in the Crown Center plaza area. Usually bustling with people and difficult to get seated within an hour, we were directed to our booth right away and given attentive service. Also, the wine was great (and much needed). The staff at Legoland was understandably obsessed with squirting every child with Purel hand sanitizer after each activity spot. And Coco Keys was like bathing in bleach all day - so we basically neutralized ourselves before heading back home. I feel good about that.
We got home Sunday night (had to make a stop at IKEA first, of course). But, the world had changed overnight. Kyle had already received a call from his company, Talent Plus, that everyone would be working remote the next week. I received a message from my boss Sunday night saying "don't come in, stay home." Our company was about to enact our disaster plan...everything we had prepared for was now coming to light. That same night Bennet Elementary called all families and posted to their website that students would not report to school on Monday. LPS had already shut down schools in Lincoln for the week.
Day 1-5 last week was crazy, overwhelming, emotional and confusing. The best way to sum up our first week as work-from-home-homeschooling-parents was like playing air traffic controller with all parts of your life at once. It went something like this:
Kyle: "Okay, I set up two spaces for us to work. Today, I'll work in the office, and you can be upstairs."
Beth: "Great, we got this. I made a schedule for the kids for the entire day, broken down by the half hour, to keep their attention and so they don't notice how much we're ignoring them." (LOL)
Kyle: "Beth, can you tell the kids to be quiet upstairs? I'm on a conference call."
Beth: "I'm on a conference call too. This isn't working. Kids! Go outside...for at least an hour! Don't get injured."
Kyle: "Beth, do you know if the kids ate this morning?"
Beth: "No, I thought you fed them. Well, it's 1p.m. so we should probably feed them lunch. Honestly, I've drank 50 ounces of spark today and haven't eaten myself." (Oops)
So Day 1 was trial by fire. Actually, it was terrible (laughing as I'm writing this). Let's just say we learned some lessons. We headed into Day 2 with, what we thought, would be a better plan. Not so much.
Kyle: "Okay, I have an idea. I created an outdoor quest for the kids that will engage them for a couple of hours today. They need to find different animals, insects, mammals and write about them and draw pictures."
Beth: "Love it! Husband of the year! I'll add it to the schedule today. Maybe I'll stick it after arts and crafts."
(Fast forward to after arts and crafts. Basically what unfolded was Jaxon took off and accomplished the task in 10 minutes, and Norah has been sobbing to me for an hour on why she can't do it.)
Beth: "Kyle, this is the worst idea ever. Can you get up here and help? Kyle....you there?" (I was texting him because he was downstairs on a call.)
(crickets for the longest time)
(complete Norah meltdown by this point)
Kyle: "Sorry honey, I was on a call and couldn't answer. What happened?"
Beth: "I need wine."
(We drank a lot of wine and bourbon that night.)
Day 3 was...better? I actually headed into work that day because it was our last chance (until the forseeable future) for us to conduct a video shoot to complete out our annual report. We didn't know when people would be back in the office again. I was there all day and Kyle was home. So, we asked cousin Shelby to come by Wednesday and Thursday to watch the kids and keep them focused. She was a LIFESAVER! The kids also received their online classwork on Wednesday so we could get started on some real school work during our days at home. Unfortunately, while a normal school day lasts 7 hours, they were completing a day's worth of school work in 30 minutes. But with Shelby, they played hide-and-seek outside together, got some education in, limited amount of screen time, changed out of their pajamas, and enjoyed all three meals of the day.
Day 4 we switched-up some things. Kyle and I switched office spots because I had 5 video conference calls that day, so I worked in the office and then we completely overhauled our basement to make a temporary make-shift office for Kyle. Kids were with Shelby so we were able to navigate the day much better, and without the lingering parent-guilt. We also tried to do a MUCH better job of taking breaks. I'm a pretty focused person, so I know it's hard for me to break away from something when I'm in "flow" with work or a project. But I was surprised how hard it truly was. We forced ourselves to break for things like: going to the bathroom, eating, hydrating, saying hello to our children and hanging out with them for a bit. It all sounds sad and funny that we even have to do that, but it's reality. Working from home for a day here or there is one thing (which we've all done before, no problem), but to do it full-time AND with children at home, well, it's totally different. Every stay-at-home mom in the world will NEVER get any more flack from anyone ever again. Just sayin'.
Day 5 - it's Friday! We made it. First week socially distancing ourselves has come to a conclusion. I don't think I ever worked harder on all facets of my life at once. We gave Shelby a break and it was just us and the kids on Friday, and it went pretty well. The kids are starting to understand what's going on, that mommy and daddy aren't perfect but we're working hard each day to get better at this and create some normalcy. We talked with them about COVID-19 and answered their questions and nurtured their worries. Jaxon understands it and bounces pretty well. Norah has been a bit more emotional and confused and I'm guessing it's because of the significant changes both at school and home, so we're working on that. We allowed Jaxon to start a private YouTube channel of his card tricks and magic tricks, so he's been having fun with that (give him a like if you have a moment, he'll love it). We also set up both kids with Facebook Messenger for Kids so they can chat and video chat with their 3rd and 1st grade friends, and grandparents. I think it was one of the best decisions we made - social distancing from friends is hard, but we live in a world where technology can be our best resource right now. And we're using it.
On Friday, we prepared a nice meal at home and sat around the table as a family and....sighed. We got through our first week of social distancing, working remotely, homeschooling our kids and only interacting with each other (for the later part of the week anyway). Two months ago we had also learned Norah was diagnosed with Celiac Disease, so we've been navigating COVID-19 while also navigating the gluten-free life at home. It's a lot all at once but we are learning (and have learned) a lot. Even promises we had made to our kids at the beginning of the week, such as picking up a game I had promised Jaxon, changed by the end of the week to keep our family safe and away from others. I'm confident next week will be better! The weekend holds TIME - time to breathe, time to focus on our kids only, time to get things done around the house without the usual distractions, and it even holds a virtual happy hour with friends and a virtual family dinner night with my family. Looking forward to this.
While we know we are not anywhere close to the end of this pandemic (check out this link on number of U.S. cases updated daily - what's crazy is 2 days ago this was 10K and now we're approaching 30K; in fact, by the time you read this it’s probably doubled again), and we know there will be long-term economic impact to come out of this, and we also know we can completely screw this up if we don't #stayathome right now, there's also something beautiful in connecting with everyone in new ways. A week ago I never imagined a virtual happy hour with my friends or team members, but here we are. It'll be interesting to see what changes people make will stick for the long haul, and how business and social interaction will change indefinitely.
Love and miss you all, stay safe and healthy....and remember to #stayathome to help #flattenthecurve!
Beth, Kyle, Jaxon and Norah
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| Werk, werk, werk! Assurity video shoot. Last day in office. |
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| First virtual team meeting via video conference call - success! |
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| Jaxon would send me messages via Facebook Messenger for Kids occasionally. It was so nice! |
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| Saturday was the best! We focused on our family, and since we couldn't go anywhere, we went outside for some long walks. |
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| This is sad and the unfortunate reality. At this point, if we don't change our behavior dramaticaly, it's a matter of math before we surpass Italy and China. This graph was from March 19th with 10,000 U.S. cases. The next day we were already at 20,000. And 2 days later (today, March 22) we are at 30,000. #stayathome |
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