The week the school district had designated as Spring Break (back before any of us had ever heard of Wuhan wet markets) has come to an end. What a much deserved respite it was from the busy life we have been living trapped in the house for the last 4 weeks. Stephen took this opportunity and played video games for 20 hours every day. We’re so proud of the gains he saw in his gaming. He still rides his bike or runs every day for a half an hour just to make us feel better about the lack of time management guidance we’re giving him.
Lindsey is well rested mostly because she slept until 1 pm each day and then watched YouTube in her bed until all hours of the night. She disappears on her bike for hours. She could be operating a meth lab somewhere for all we know. We just text her to come home for dinner and she does so… that’s probably fine.
Today we were back at the academic life. I walked by Stephen at one point and asked how it was going and he said, “Good, I’m just googling how to do math.” That’s a good indicator for a career in engineering, right?
Lindsey was in my room putting her hair up before she headed out to check on her meth lab, I mean- get some fresh air on a bike ride. She has informed me she did all her social studies work for this week in basically a half hour so clearly I’m not the only adult in her life that’s half- assing during the Quarantine.
Paul’s back at the all day conference calls in the living room. I’m not sure who already knew this, but conference calls about heavy civil engineering projects are not a compelling Must-Listen. There’s a lot of abbreviations and acronyms so it is a bit enigmatic, like a foreign language. Unfortunately, all that mystery doesn’t make it any more intriguing. I self isolate in my room with my friend Alexa and we listen to spa music and read but mostly scroll Twitter while we wait for the dryer to finish and then I can fold towels. Folding towels is now what gives my life meaning.
Some days I look at this situation and think, “What wonderful family time. We are going to emerge from this resilient and closer than ever before!”
Other days I think, “What a strange twist of fate to be trapped in this house with three complete strangers.”
Guess which day today is.
Better Late Than Never 