Those Who Wear Masks, and Those Who Don't

It's crazy how fast time can go by, even when you're stuck at home all day. I can't believe it's been a whole month since I last posted - it only feels like a couple of weeks.

We continue to deal with the Coronavirus, and all that it has brought. Since I last wrote, there have been an additional 11,000+ cases in Nebraska, and 132 deaths. I'm mostly focused on Nebraska numbers these days, especially because states are starting to ease restrictions and open things back up now in phases. This has caused a division (what doesn't these days?) between 1) those who want things to go back to normal because our economy has taken a huge hit, and they're afraid of the government taking away our rights, and 2) those who want to follow the advise of the experts because the curve HAS been flattened by social distancing, and they're afraid of a second, worse wave of the virus hitting us if people jump the gun. Of course, a lot of people can see both sides of it, including myself, but everybody leans one way or another, and that determines the choices they make.

Personally, I don't see anything wrong with establishing a new normal, but that would take a HUGE cultural shift that I don't think a lot of people are willing to make....ever. For example, face masks. In Asia, this is a non-issue. When we lived in Korea, it was common to see people wear face masks in public, not just during the yellow dust season, or if there was the threat of a virus (like the SARS outbreak the first time we lived in Korea), but all the time. Nobody thinks anything of it - it is their normal. Now certain businesses are requiring face masks here, and people are totally freaking out about it, saying that it's taking away their personal rights and freedoms (as if they don't have the right to just shop somewhere else). There was a security guard who was actually killed after he stopped someone from entering a store because they didn't have a mask on. It's madness. To quote the Wicked Witch of the West, "Ohhhhh what a world, what a world!"

To me this comes down to the difference between collectivist cultures versus individualistic cultures. The common good versus individual rights. Are these really opposites? I don't think they should be, but yes, I'm definitely leaning one way more than another.

I will tell you this, I am trying very, very hard not to be judgmental of those who are choosing differently than me. I've always been grateful for my diverse group of friends, and this situation is definitely revealing all the differences. Today our stake president shared a much appreciated message about not letting our differences lead to contention. If we don't have the spirit of Christ, we don't ahve anything. So for now, I'm just going to worry about me and my family, and continue to do what we think is best, and let others do the same.

Speaking of our family, we've all been experiencing this in our own ways. I asked everyone what they thought was the best thing about quarantine, and the worst thing.

Best:
Alex - nothing (although he never complains about anything)
Madelyn - having more time to do crafts
Joseph - not having to deal with the stupid kids at school
Cora - getting more time to do the things I want to do, and still getting paid for my job
Ruth - more time to focus on family and making our house our home
Joe - spending time with family
Bo and Kronk - the humans are always home

Worst:
Alex - everything (although he never complains about anything)
Madelyn - not being able to go shopping with friends
Joseph - not having any motivation to be productive
Cora - not being able to see my friends
Ruth - becoming less active physically and socially
Joe - worrying about not getting a job in this economy
Bo and Kronk - nothing, because the humans are always home

And now it's Memorial Day weekend, and I was feeling a little bummed that we couldn't go camping or something. Cora said, "get used to it, this is going to be our whole summer break," and a little piece of me died inside, because what if she's right?!!! I hope she's not. We tried going to a state park to do some hiking, but when we go there, there were SO many people, and not one single one of them was wearing a mask, or doing much in the way of social distancing. We ended up not staying. We did end the day with a fire and 'smores in our new fire pit though. We've been enjoying that a lot.

In other news, Joe is officially on terminal leave, which means he can start looking for another job. Can he actually get a job, now that the economy has turned South? The hope is that he will get hired on with the company that he just did an internship with, and we'll stay put for a hot minute. But time will tell. Seriously though, what a crazy time to get out of the military! But 20 years is 20 years, and we're ready to move on to the next thing....even if that necessitates actually moving.

And speaking of Joe getting out of the military, he's been growing a pretty decent beard while he's been interning, but he had to shave for his final out-processing, so we had a little fun with the facial hair before it all when bye-bye.

Now to grow it back.

Into the Wild

We got out of the house the other day! We went to the Lee G. Simmons Conservation Park and Wildlife Safari, which is owned and operated by the Henry Doorly Zoo. It's about 25 minutes away from here. Right now they are only doing a 4 mile drive-through experience to see the North American animals they have (elk, bison, deer, water fowl, etc.) - nobody is allowed out of their cars. Normally they have hiking trails, lookout towers, hands-on experiences, an aviary, a playground, and other stuff that isn't accessible right now. Not sure how many acres this place covers total, but it's big. Right now they are offering free entry for anyone with a zoo membership, so YAY for us! It was a nice day, and we saw plenty of animals (no wolves though). It's was a nice little change in scenery, and apparently a lot of other people thought so too, and have thought so every day since it opened, because there was a long line of cars. They had over 20,000 visitors opening weekend. We avoided the weekend, and went in the middle of the week, but it was still busy. We will definitely go back though.

 

 

 

History in the Making

This really is the craziest thing that has happened in my lifetime. 3 weeks ago I wrote that there had been 335, 364 cases of COVID-19 worldwide, and 14,611 death. As of right now there have been 1,946,437 cases reported and 129,709 deaths. In the United States alone there have been 587,815 cases and 23,654 deaths. In Nebraska there have been 871 cases and 18 deaths. The numbers really aren't even what's crazy though, it's everything else that has come about and what our new normal looks like.

Every day we have school. Schools have been officially closed for the rest of the school year here in Nebraska, so our district has set up online school for the kids to do at home. It was a little frustrating at first, because of all the different sites we had to create logins for, but we've got the hang of it now. We usually start school at 8:30. Overall, it hasn't been too bad. I feel like we've been pretty lucky as far as what our teachers are asking of the kids. And I actually enjoy doing homeschool with my kids, and having them home.

Cora, who had been working as a special ed para, is actually still getting paid by our district. They will now be having zoom meetings, and can sign up to help with things like making paper packets for kids who don't have access to computers, packing lunches and breakfasts for the free meal program our district is providing, or other things. She is really lucky to still have that income. She misses the kids a lot, and was really glad when all the staff from her school did a parade, driving through the neighborhoods within their school boundaries - the parents were told ahead of time, so families were lined up in front of their houses on all the streets. Almost all of them had made signs expressing their love and appreciation, or drawn messages with chalk on the sidewalks. We decorated our car, I drove, and Cora had a big smile on her face the whole time, especially when we spotted her favorite student (who she got to have a zoom meeting with a couple of days later with his case manager). It was a lot of fun, and I know they're not the only school to have done something like that.

Grocery stores are still open, because they're essential, but they are limiting the number of customers that can go in at a time. They are also limiting the number of certain items you can buy. They've installed plastic guards at the checkout counters, separating the customers from the workers. Over the loud speakers they play messages like, "In accordance with recommended guidelines, please remain 6 feet apart from other customers." It's still hard to find certain items - toilet paper, Clorox wipes, hand sanitizer, dried beans, hamburger, chicken, vitamin C, diapers, and other random things. Before they restricted customers and number of items, we heard (and saw) reports of  people waiting in long lines at Costco before opening, and then literally rushing the store, running to the toilet paper section, and grabbing as much toilet paper as they could, even before it was unloaded off the pallet. We've been lucky because we haven't run out of toilet paper or anything else we've needed. We've just happened to find what we needed when we needed it, without being crazy about it.

Our church is not having any congregational meetings. We have been told that we can administer the sacrament in our own homes. We are lucky because Joe and Joseph can both bless the sacrament. Our stake president does a live stream every Sunday for about a half hour. There's an opening and closing prayer, and he invites a person or two to give a talk - they stay 6 feet apart - and he always says something himself. It's been nice. After we watch the live stream, we sing a sacrament hymn as a family, take the sacrament, have a lesson from Come Follow Me, then a closing song. I've really enjoyed our worship services at home, and it has made our Sundays meaningful.

I'm the first counselor in our Primary presidency, and we've been sending out emails to our kids and their families every week, which include a short video from one of us. We've encouraged our Primary workers to stay in touch with the kids they are over, whether it's a letter, phone call, zoom meeting, or whatever. Cora is over Primary activities with another lady, and they sent out an email to let parents know that they would drop by, honk when they got there, and the girls could come out on the porch to say hi. We're lucky that we have other means of keeping in touch with each other and fellowshipping. We just have to think outside the box now.

Joe had started an internship in January for a computer security company (he officially retires July 1st). They were having him study up to get some certifications (he's got one so far), so that was something he could do from home. He started doing that over a month ago. I'm not working now either. We are lucky because we have our income from the military still coming in. In the middle of May Joe will start terminal leave, and can get a job with this company if they offer him a job. They've indicated they want him, although they can't officially discuss anything until he's on terminal leave, but if they do offer him a job, I'm not sure how that will work while we're still on lockdown. We will just wait and see, and hope for the best. Plus, congress passed a stimulus bill that gives every adult $1,200 dollars, so that will help towards the income I'm losing.

We've got a lot of time on our hands, so we've continued to stay busy with various project inside and outside the house. We are lucky because we already had a lot of materials that we needed, and have been able to order a lot of things online. We're lucky that we had a small tax refund, which didn't get spent on a spring break trip. I already posted about redoing our kitchen/dining room flooring and tiling the fireplace hearth. The CDC has recommended everyone wear face masks when their out, so I made some for our family. I made a quilt top with all of Cora's T-shirts that she'd gotten over the years for drama. Cora has made a whole bunch of Mickey Mouse ear headbands (I have no idea what she's going to do with them all, and I don't think she does either). We tore out an old deck in the back corner of our yard, and we're putting in a retaining wall and fireplace pit. We made a fence to section off a specific part of our yard for the dogs, since their ruining our grass, and we'd like most of it to heal and grow back - they still have plenty of space to run around, but not the whole backyard. We started sanding down our kitchen cabinets so we can re-paint them. We re-graded the flowerbed on one side of the yard so it gets better drainage, and we're going to be re-mulching all of our flower beds. We've been lucky to have a lot of nice weather lately....until the last couple of days when temps dropped below freezing. We've gotten lots of vitamin D, and lots of exercise.

For entertainment, I must admit, there's been a lot of video games and tv. But my kids have been playing together more, and getting along better, and there's just a good feeling in our house everyday, most of the time. They miss their friends to a certain degree, but they're strengthening their friendships with each other. I think my kids who have struggled with anxiety are feeling a break from that right now. We're lucky, because since we've been staying home, we have been saving a ton on gas (yesterday we saw a place that was $1.55 a gallon - holy cow!), and I think we're going to get a trampoline for the kids. They'll love that.

So my big takeaway so far, if you haven't guessed already, is that we are VERY LUCKY! We are privileged. And it's not because we deserve it. Not one little bit. We're just lucky. But not everyone is lucky. Not everyone is experiencing this the same as us. People have lost jobs. People who are considered essential workers are being put at higher risk. Seniors are missing proms and graduation ceremonies. Parents are struggling with homeschool, especially if they still have to work. Not all families have peace in their home, and incidents of domestic violence are up. People are suffering from anxiety and depression. We personally might be getting some benefits out of all of this, but many are not. My heart hurts for them, so very much. I'm doing what I can within my small sphere, and my prayers go out to the rest of the world.

I know that we'll get through this. This new normal is not going to be a permanent thing, although it will be interesting to see what changes DO stick around. I hope we can learn lessons along the way, and become better people. I hope we can feel more gratitude, and not take what we have for granted. I hope we can take care of each other when this is all over, especially those who weren't so lucky.

That One Time the Whole World was Quarantined

So I figured I should record what life is like right now, for posterity. Coronavirus has taken us all hostage! That seems a little dramatic. Okay, let me backtrack and give you a...

Timeline:
Back at the end of December we started to see news coming out of China about some kind of unknown pneumonia-like virus. In the beginning of January we learned that it was a novel coronavirus that they were naming COVID-19, it was spreading like wildfire, and the first person died from it on January 9th. Even though China locked down the region where it had started by Jan. 16th, and declared an outbreak level 1, the virus had already spread to Thailand and Japan. Public transportation started to shut down in China, and they started construction on make-shift hospitals, because there wasn't enough room for all the patients. Cases were being reported in other countries too - airline travel was carrying the virus to the world. By the last day of January, the death toll in China had reached 213, and Russia closed it's entire border to China. All of that happened in about ONE month. Fast forward to today. The virus is everywhere.

There have been 335,364 cases worldwide, and 14, 611 deaths. The newest catchphrase is "social distancing", and it seems like the whole world is on lockdown. Schools are closed. Churches and temples are closed. A lot of businesses are closed. In Nebraska there is a state mandate that not more than 10 people can congregate in one area. Different states have done different things. They recommend staying in your houses, all the time. If you have to go out, keep your distance from people. WASH YOUR HANDS!!! Why all the precautions? To flatten the curve of what is otherwise exponential growth. Here's a good video that explains that.

So, how did we get here? Why does it seem so bad?

What is COVID-19?:
There are actually many kinds of coronaviruses, including ones that cause the common cold, but COVID-19 is a "novel" strain because it has never been seen in humans before. Because it's new to humans, we don't have any antibodies for it, no vaccines, and we don't really know what works to fight it...yet. It's also dangerous because the gestation period for COVID-19 is a lot longer than for something like the flue or pneumonia. That means that you could have the virus for 2 weeks without showing any symptoms, but the whole time you're extremely contagious and you're spreading it around. And the most dangerous thing about this virus is that it goes straight for your lungs. At first it just looks like a cold - runny nose, cough, maybe a sore throat. But then as it gets worse, you get a fever and can start having respiratory problems. About 20% of people infected are hospitalized, and it is 10 times deadlier than the flu.

How this has affected the World, and our Community:
Yes, the world it getting more serious about "flattening the curve" now, but for some countries, like Italy, it was too late. There are only so many hospital beds. There are only so many ventilators. There are only so many doctors and nurses. When there's not enough, more people die. And as more people died, people started to panic - everywhere. And that's when the runs on the stores started. People were buying out cleaning supplies, soap, hand sanitizer, and for some inexplicable reason, water and toilet paper. Then dried goods, and then it seemed like everything else too. Shelves were emptied, even after stores started rationing things.

This has been going on for a couple of weeks, and it's crazy. Also, because people aren't going out, businesses are suffering, and people are losing their jobs. This whole thing could potentially have a devastating effect on the economy.

How is this affecting us Personally?:
 It's kind of surreal, and it's kind of hard to know how to write about it, because it's this weird, emotionally ambiguous existence. On the one hand I'm thinking, we're fine. We're going to be fine. Joe has a secure job for now. We have toilet paper. We'll do our part, and not go out as much as possible. I enjoy my family, and we'll have a lot of time together, and we'll make the most of it. Homeschool starts tomorrow. I've already been doing it with 1 kid, so why not 2 more? Cora isn't going in to work, but she knows she'll still get paid for at least 2 more week. And we've got plenty of memes to keep us entertained (more on that later).

On the other hand, it's a little scary - just the unknown of it all. We have no idea how long this will last. I worry that not enough people will take the social distancing seriously, and we'll end up like Italy. I worry that somebody I love will get the virus and maybe even die. I especially worry about Marie, because she's a nurse. I worry about the lasting ramifications of this whole thing. I don't feel panicked. I'm not losing sleep at night. The worry is just kind of tucked away in the back of my mind. But it's there.

A few months ago Cora had purchased a plane ticket to South Korea. Joe's brother Bert and his family are stationed there right now, and she was going to go visit them for Spring Break, which was this past week. That was really disappointing, but at least she got her money refunded. All of the Liddells were planning on celebrating Joe's parent's 50th anniversary in June, but that's all up in the air now. Who knows how else it will affect us as time goes on.

But let's focus on some more positive things. One thing I've enjoyed is our worship services at home. That's been a special experience. And we've also gotten busy with a couple of home renovation projects.

I will post before and after pictures of all of that at a later date.

Now one really interesting thing to come out of all of this is a real sign of the times - MEMES! Oh my word. Thanks to Cora, we are on top of all the memes around here. She sends them to me constantly. I admit, there have been quite a few that had me laughing out loud. Again, for posterity, I will share some below. Gotta do my part, right? It will be interesting to see how this time in our history is remembered and recorded 20 years from now. For now, we're just getting through it one day at a time.

Opa!

For Valentine's Day, one of the ladies from our Friends Like Family group organized an outing to a Greek Orthodox church to learn about it, have a Greek dinner, and learn some Greek dancing. It was SO MUCH FUN! First of all, there are a lot of similarities to my own religion that I found fascinating. The church was absolutely beautiful! The dinner was delicious. The dancing was a workout, and hilarious. And the people who put the whole thing on for us were lovely and endearing. I would totally do it again, and it was the perfect date for Valentine's day.

The Week She Turned 19

For Cora's birthday, which was in February, we celebrated the entire week. This was partly because it might be her last birthday with us before she leaves on her mission, and partly because I felt bad for her and wanted to make her feel better. Why did I feel bad for her? For months she had been planning a trip over spring break to South Korea to visit Joe's brother's family, who are stationed there right now. But as February was coming to a close, it was looking less and less likely that she would be able to go because of what was going on with the Coronavirus, which I'll post about later. She had a non-refundable ticket, and so that wasn't looking great either, and she was super bummed. Anyway, each day of her birthday week I made an effort to do a little something special for her. Nothing big or grand, but just something to make her smile. The last day of the week I took her to the zoo, just me and her, because we love it. We visited our favorite things, and watched a video about sea turtles.

Here are 19 things about Cora right now.
1. She is working as a special education para at a local elementary school here (Alex is her favorite).
2. She wants to be a special education teacher, and she would be the best one ever.
3. She's taking some online classes at Metropolitan Community College.
4. She is a Primary Activities leader at church.
5. She loves woodworking. She's made some really awesome things.
6. She collects mugs, from everywhere we've traveled, and other random ones.
7. Legos + Harry Potter = Happiness. You're never to old for Legos.
8. She's planning on going on a mission in the fall. Still working on paperwork.
9. She would love to do the Disney college program, just for fun, after her mission.
10. If she could go anywhere in the world, it would be to Egypt.
11. Her favorite food is pasta.
12. She sends me a lot of memes. A LOT.
13. She has an amazing singing voice, but chose drama over show choir, which are apparently the only to choices here that have any recognized value ;)
14. She loves her dogs SO much, and considers herself to be their mom. She's a single mom.
15. She's now considered an adult in the state of Nebraska.
16. She is really good at math, and really good at explaining it. She could be a really good math teacher, but she doesn't want to be.
17. She loves binge-watching a good show as much as the next person.
18. She loves Danny Kay more than anyone her age, partly because nobody else her age knows who Danny Kay is.
19. Star Wars is the love of her life.