Topsy Turvy

I was supposed to be on a plane to Milan, Italy, right now - heading to the European version of Emerson Exchange. Mike was meeting me in Milan on Friday and we were going to spend the weekend in Switzerland, hiking the Alps, before heading home on Monday. We are obviously not doing that anymore. Instead, Mike has been furloughed for at least a month as the theatre closed its doors, the kids are off school for at least three weeks, and I'm a little bit alarmed that we are going to have to resort to using napkins as toilet paper.

Dec calls it "crayolavirus" ... he knows it's wrong, but he just can't quite get "coronavirus" out. We've talked about it with the kids, so they understand a little of what is happening and why. Their biggest question is "why is there no toilet paper?" and honestly, mine is the same. That, and "when will it be over?" Sweet Quinn asked me today if they would go back to school this year. I had to honestly tell her that I didn't know. It broke her heart because she loves her teacher.

The end of season Hockey Jamboree this weekend was canceled. Quinn was extremely disappointed, but we were able to grab her trophy, which helped a little. The arrival of a street hockey net and sticks also helped. Mike is on the search for two more pairs of roller blades to help pass the foreseeable stuck-at-home future because Google is currently being overworked on the timer front as three skaters try to share one pair.

We spent as much time outside as possible this weekend, including two evenings at the baseball field. Somehow, pitching tennis balls to a pack of neighborhood kids and running around the diamond resets a feeling of normalcy. We are all praying the weather continues to cooperate. We're keeping the neighborhood group play to outside - so bikes, bats, balls, scooters, and roller blades are on permanent rotation.

There are a lot of unknowns on the other side of this. The economy scares me the most. Both Mike and I work for companies that will be severely impacted. We've put a hard stop on looking for a house. We are going to make this one work until we feel things stabilize - probably 1-2 years from now. It's just not the time to take on a bigger mortgage. Honestly, there is comfort in a firm decision. We are finally tackling some projects that have been on hold while we looked. Mike has plenty of time on his hands now - and three small helpers ... dream team!

This is most definitely NOT a "woe is us" post. As the COVID-19 pandemic sweeps the world and not a single one of us is getting through it without impact, stress, and fear, these unexpected turns are just part of the deal. I mostly wanted to capture some of my thoughts for the kids to look back on when this is a distant memory (I'm so ready for it to be in the past!). And to also say that I'm not sure how much I'll be blogging as we take this one day at a time. It could be the usual funny stories - or I may just need a break from it all. Stay tuned.

Our main focus is going to be trying to keep things as smooth as possible for the kids - and maybe finding some toilet paper and kleenex (we were good - until Dec and I both got a cold and burned through the supply this weekend). Although if we do end up with napkins for toilet paper, that's basically blog story gold ...