Ah yes, March 16th 2020 - first day of virtual learning and also first Monday of school that we are allowed to sleep in. The sense of foreboding did not sink in fully. I had always thought that the school might be closed for 2 weeks maximum or at least until the Easter Break.
My boys had their school work come in via See Saw or Show My Homework online platforms - they went smoothly. I even did a yoga session - thought of myself as Zen, calm and centered. virtual schooling? Nothing to it!
I even wrote a list of things I could accomplish or spend time on during this upcoming potential free time that I had on my hands.
The list :-
1. Temper my temper
2. Repair what’s broken with Jan-Farris and Martin
3. Closer to God
4. Work that telescope (Birthday present from Martin - still not used since I didn’t know how to align the damn thing)
5. Lose weight and get to a size 36 (hardest of goals to reach I would find out later)
6. Puasa (Fast)
7. Master Spanish
8. Walk every day
9. Start Face Yoga
Very ambitious but raw and honest - no?
Only the days wore on...the workload started to come in and I realized quickly that my youngest son needed some supervision to set up the first Zoom call, to download folders and documents for him to work on - I got frazzled pretty much by the 4th day.
Around us, cases of the Covid-19 infections were inching its way into Harris County. By this time, New York and California had a massive spike in new cases as well as deaths. The government started to take notice - I guess even Trump rolled out his fat, orange belly to stand up and give a fuck.
We were cocooned in a lovely house in a nice community with a lake. We had a pool, full stocked pantry, a lake view and a park just outside our community - this is paradise!
Only I realized that having the kids as well as Martin home meant that now snacks and lunches were my responsibility - no longer the cafeteria’s. The shit hit the fan pretty quick then. My kids were constantly ravenous and starving. Yoga mornings were abandoned because my sleep was anything but restful. I would wake up - tired and sluggish as before.
Fuck this virus.
Fuck Covid-19.
WEEK 2 - VIRTUAL LEARNING
Uneventful - still staying above water with all the schoolwork and deadlines. I even squeezed in some sporadic yoga sessions.
Harris County began reporting some cases and for quite a few days there were nasty rumours about how the National Guard were brought in to enforce a lockdown in Houston. These fear mongers were real assholes hyping everyone up like that.
The Texas Governor Abbot left it to the various counties on how they choose to enforce the restrictions. And so, on the 24th March, Judge Hidalgo enforced a stay-at-home order for Harris County - effective until end of Easter break. So it began. Took some getting used to (albeit a relief to not have to go out for groceries anymore - opting instead to have them delivered). Martin had a tiny hoarding mentality because he would still go out to buy groceries - usually on a Sunday and would return with more toilet paper (!), kitchen towels and lots of frozen pizza. Our freezer was filled to capacity and we were worry free - food wise.
We would go out for walks now and then. The boys would play football, go out cycling - I joined them for walks sometimes but realized that I got worried and apprehensive each time we met others along the tracks. The track is narrow enough but we would distance ourselves as much as we could (short of flinging ourselves into the bushes) and act like it was a perfectly normal thing to do and not because I was-terrified-that-you-were-harboring-the-virus. It was odd. I started to just stay home instead. I would lounge by the pool, gaze out into the lake, meditated etc - it was enough for me.
If I was anxious- it was not obvious. We all took it as a chance to take a step back to reconnect with our family, be at one with nature and slowing down the pace of life. There were inspiring images on how a normally filthy Venice Canal turned pristine clean and clear, how clean the air was in the big cities in China - Mother Nature was healing, humans were the culprits who were now being locked up. This is going to turn okay in the long run if you ignored the massive number of deaths in Italy, New York and California.
My bedtimes were normal enough and I even had an extra hour in bed as there were no more school runs to make. But I would wake up each and every time absolutely exhausted - like I was fed through a meat grinding machine. Every inch of my body ached.
It was only during a phone call with a good friend of mine that shed light on the possibility that perhaps our sleep was not restful because deep down we were anxious and terrified at the sweeping no-mercy fatal power of the virus. I worried about our mortality and the mortality of my mom so far away in Malaysia.
If I get sick in the US, where do I go to get tested? Can I even get tested? It’s allergy season in Texas - every running nose, or sore throat would be for me as a sign of imminent doom. I was asthmatic - I would never survive if I were to get hit by the virus.
America was so unprepared - a President so callous, uncaring and a con man. No reassuring words came out of his mouth - just self promotion and attacks on the press. I was so fed up of living here! Is it any wonder why anxiety came knocking on my door?
Fuck this virus.
Fuck Covid-19.
WEEK 2 - VIRTUAL LEARNING
Uneventful - still staying above water with all the schoolwork and deadlines. I even squeezed in some sporadic yoga sessions.
Harris County began reporting some cases and for quite a few days there were nasty rumours about how the National Guard were brought in to enforce a lockdown in Houston. These fear mongers were real assholes hyping everyone up like that.
The Texas Governor Abbot left it to the various counties on how they choose to enforce the restrictions. And so, on the 24th March, Judge Hidalgo enforced a stay-at-home order for Harris County - effective until end of Easter break. So it began. Took some getting used to (albeit a relief to not have to go out for groceries anymore - opting instead to have them delivered). Martin had a tiny hoarding mentality because he would still go out to buy groceries - usually on a Sunday and would return with more toilet paper (!), kitchen towels and lots of frozen pizza. Our freezer was filled to capacity and we were worry free - food wise.
We would go out for walks now and then. The boys would play football, go out cycling - I joined them for walks sometimes but realized that I got worried and apprehensive each time we met others along the tracks. The track is narrow enough but we would distance ourselves as much as we could (short of flinging ourselves into the bushes) and act like it was a perfectly normal thing to do and not because I was-terrified-that-you-were-harboring-the-virus. It was odd. I started to just stay home instead. I would lounge by the pool, gaze out into the lake, meditated etc - it was enough for me.
If I was anxious- it was not obvious. We all took it as a chance to take a step back to reconnect with our family, be at one with nature and slowing down the pace of life. There were inspiring images on how a normally filthy Venice Canal turned pristine clean and clear, how clean the air was in the big cities in China - Mother Nature was healing, humans were the culprits who were now being locked up. This is going to turn okay in the long run if you ignored the massive number of deaths in Italy, New York and California.
My bedtimes were normal enough and I even had an extra hour in bed as there were no more school runs to make. But I would wake up each and every time absolutely exhausted - like I was fed through a meat grinding machine. Every inch of my body ached.
It was only during a phone call with a good friend of mine that shed light on the possibility that perhaps our sleep was not restful because deep down we were anxious and terrified at the sweeping no-mercy fatal power of the virus. I worried about our mortality and the mortality of my mom so far away in Malaysia.
If I get sick in the US, where do I go to get tested? Can I even get tested? It’s allergy season in Texas - every running nose, or sore throat would be for me as a sign of imminent doom. I was asthmatic - I would never survive if I were to get hit by the virus.
America was so unprepared - a President so callous, uncaring and a con man. No reassuring words came out of his mouth - just self promotion and attacks on the press. I was so fed up of living here! Is it any wonder why anxiety came knocking on my door?
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