Staying Home

I have not left my home except to exercise (walking/running) in over a week. I went grocery shopping last Saturday, and since then, I've been homebound. I've worked six days out of my basement office. I've cooked and cooked and cooked. I've obsessed over every news article (and they come fast and furious). I thought I was finally feeling settled, like "okay, I've got this" and then:

1. Stay at home order. Why the governor's new law that people in my state need to do exactly what I'm already doing should make me feel weirdly claustrophobic is beyond me, but, well, it did.

combined with

2. The West Seattle Bridge is, suddenly and with only a few hours notice, closed for the next few weeks. Apparently it is in dire need of repair (I suddenly have visions of it crumbling to the ground), and it is going to take them several weeks to come up with a plan, and several months to fix it. Who cares? Every resident of West Seattle. It is our literal bridge to the rest of the community: I take it to go downtown, to go to work, to go....just about everywhere. Apparently it is the most traveled road in Seattle, and now it's closed indefinitely.

It's all too much.

But: we can do hard things.

I'm reminding myself that it's possible I won't have to commute to work for months (first because of coronavirus, then because of summer vacation), so I might be okay. If the city ever re-opens, I can take the water taxi.

And really, that's the least of anyone's problems right now.

Tessa and I ordered jewelry making supplies from Amazon, and we have a new hobby. I'm getting daily exercise outdoors with my dog. I'm able to continue my work with students - work that is meaningful to me - to discuss literature, prep them for the AP test, and support them through their struggles. I signed up to be a part of a UW study about mental health in this coronavirus craziness, so I'm helping science ever so slightly. I'm still doing Weight Watchers, and although the last week or so has been a plateau, I have faith in the system and I am SO grateful to be down 15+ pounds, and I'm fantasizing about going back to work (or anywhere!) and having people say "WOW you look great." (I did Weight Watchers so that I could get my cholesterol under control, but watching my waist get smaller and my face slim down is really quite fun.)

I'm going a little stir crazy, and yet I have unread books, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime. Our home is filled with music. (Oh - the record player broke; it no longer turns. Whyyyy?) Our pantry is stocked, and we have enough TP for now. (No, we didn't hoard. And for what it's worth, I bought my extra two weeks before everyone else bought theirs.) I have a paying job working from home. We are healthy. We are not high risk.

So this should be easy, right?

It's not easy.

But here we go, easy or not, and we'll make the most of it.