Bernie’s out. I still cannot believe this is an election year. All that news coverage and those crazy debates seem like a zillion years ago.
Central California Red Belt update: everybody is sewing masks and isolation is widely adopted. In fact, my sister has created her own mask pattern which includes a pipe cleaner for optimal over-the-nose fit.
Seattle update: I’ve recently observed an interesting urban phenomenon in my Facebook feed where wild animals are more readily making their way into backyards (“a deer scared my cat!”). I suppose these animals are contending with less traffic just like the rest of us.
In other news, we are all suffering. It’s like a thick layer of muted anxiety and indistinct pressure looms. And it’s exhausting. There was a Medium article circulating recently about how parents are not ok. The pressure to perform at work while simultaneously homeschooling/entertaining your children all day. It’s an impossible ask that results in no winners. And the author fully acknowledges that she and her partner are among the shrinking group lucky enough to complain about having a job in these weird times.
She highlights all the ways families and individuals constantly compensate for an inadequate system. Why in the world does school end at 3pm if after school care is not universally available? How is a family supposed to contribute to the workforce? This is to say nothing of the insane system of employer-based healthcare. On and on.
For me, I feel sadness. Zoom dates with friends are kind of losing their appeal. I’m a withering extravert. I still have a client for whom I’m doing work, but the end feels near. I’m grateful my kids have each other for socializing and getting outside, but it often feels claustrophobic in this bungalow. And like many others, or so I’ve heard, I’m getting fatter and drinking too much.
It’s looking more and more like Little League and, really all youth sports, won’t happen this spring OR summer. The idea that by June, we’ll be in a place where kids can congregate and share germs assumes that the virus is completely eliminated in pretty short order. An impossible scenario, right?
Well, cheers! I’m scooping my ice cream and settling in for Ozark.
diary of coronavirus 