Life Lately – Coronavirus Edition

I’m going to put it out there first: I’m one of the very lucky ones.

I can do my job completely from home (I’ve gone into the office once since March 16th, and it was for a tech issue that I resolved alone in about 20 minutes).

There’s pretty much no place I’d rather be than home with Jack and our dogs (unless we can combine home and the woods and the beach and add in some family).

And it’s really easy for me to go to the grocery store once a week and order whatever else we decide we want or need.

So frankly, the last 2.5 months has been pretty fun for me. I’m lucky and I’m grateful, and if it’s been awful for you, I’m so so so sorry, and if you want someone to talk to, I’m here any time.

But I want to document it a little anyway, because how often are we going to be stuck at home for 2.5 months due to a global pandemic? (Don’t answer with, “We’ll see.” Let’s be hopeful!)

Work

It’s been wild. That’s all I have to say, really. I’m so grateful I could do it from home, especially since I’ve worked about 50% more than I typically do over the past couple months.

I’ve loved logging on early before I get ready for the day and being productive before other people are online, if I have a particularly large amount of work to do. I feel really energized after using 10 minutes of free time to go outside for a quick run. And then I come back inside and don’t have to worry about showering immediately. I do some more work, and wait till I have another free 10 minutes to go shower. And it’s pretty awesome to go pet a dog or get a hug when I’m feeling stressed, or have a good quick laugh at a background podcast before diving into the next project.

The living things

The dogs are more spoiled than ever now that we’re home all the time. They demand to be let outside many times a day, beg for pets while we’re on calls, want to be held and played with more than ever, and insist on licking up remnants of cottage cheese daily. They also make me get outside regularly and are the most loving, cuddly, hilarious boys in the world. I’m crazier about them than ever.

Jack’s great. This was the first time we had a solid 2.5 months without either of us being gone since we started dating almost 2 years ago. Usually he’s gone a few days in a row (or more) every month for National Guard duty. But since they can’t social distance there, March was the last month he was gone – he came back right before everything shut down.

He wasn’t supposed to go back till end of July, when he’ll stay for pretty much all of August. Things changed with the protests that turned into riots this weekend. He’s been activated and left Sunday afternoon.

As of now, he should be back by end of next weekend, when we (or he, if he gets his way) will leave for vacation with my family. But it depends on how things play out.

We started seeing family occasionally at the beginning of May, and most everyone is well, with one exception. A few weeks ago, Pippa passed away. We loved on her a lot early one Saturday morning and took her to the park one last time. I cried a lot more than I expected to and hugged my dog boys more than they wanted that day.

On the topic of family, we weren’t sure we’d get to go to the Outer Banks due to coronavirus, but when the world started to open up, OBX opened too. So we agreed to quarantine for 2 weeks and then all head there, minus my grandparents.

I might leave with my family and have the house/dog sitter start when planned. I prefer to cut my trip short and wait till Jack gets home if he’ll definitely be home by the end of next weekend. But we might not have that clarity, and he doesn’t want me to miss part of vacation because of the military. Who knows. Military-induced flexibility strikes again.

It feels rather silly to worry about something so trivial, but significant, horrible things still impact trivial things. I have a lot of feelings, and some are about small personal things, and some are much bigger.

Entertainment

Things I’ve watched (and liked) during quarantine:

• Breaking Bad
• Hart of Dixie
• Waco
• Better Call Saul
• And probably some movies, but none are hitting me right now

Things I’ve read (and liked) during quarantine:

• The Giver of Stars
• The Flight Attendant
• Most things at The Dispatch

Things I’ve done for fun during quarantine:

• Puzzles (I love puzzles)
• Played Racko (a silly game from the 50s that sounds dumb but is really fun)
• Cooked (duh)
• Cleaned (necessary)
• Walked dogs and listened to podcasts (every day)
• Worked out (sanity saving)
• Napped (usually with Ben laying on top of me)
• Zoom happy hour (not as good as regular happy hour)
• Skype poker (almost as good as in-person poker)
• Played video games (okay, I don’t enjoy it and I haven’t figured out how to, but Jack does, so I try sometimes)

Workouts

We don’t have weights, but we do have 3 resistance bands that were never meant to be used as much as they have been. And a pull-up bar.

I’ve been repeating MAPS Anywhere, changing the workouts slightly to make them harder after each cycle as necessary, since March 17. I usually break it up into 3 or 4 chunks that are 5-10 minutes each throughout the day. I’m stronger than when I started for sure, and I’d guess a little leaner since not having access to heavy weights. Either way, it keeps me sane and I am surprised by how much I like a bodyweight-and-bands program.

I mostly walk with the dogs twice a day. Sometimes for 7 minutes at a time, others for 45. Just depends on what the day looks like.

Jack and I started running 1 mile every weekday at the beginning of April. We usually run together, but not always. Even at our slowest it takes under 10 minutes, so we can always convince ourselves to do it. We let ourselves go slow when we’re tired. Sometimes we get competitive and really push each other. It’s just about the habit and getting the miles in.

Mental health

It comes and goes in waaaaaaves. Sometimes I’m great and I could do this forever. And sometimes I’m sad and cabin feverish. I’m pretty much always a little extra stressed, and my brain always feels like it’s about to explode. But we’re doing alright, and we’re lucky, and happy, and I can’t complain.

And that’s all I have for the moment.

Your turn:

A quick and simple question today: how are you?