Coping

This whole COVID 19 episode snuck up on my like a cat attack. One minute lazing in the day and bam I get hit with empty shelves, warnings, and governmental shutdowns.

Sam's Club March 16, 2020

I heard on the news about the TP hoarding but didn't notice until my friend and I went to Sam's Club. The first week the TP, rice, and flour were gone, but the second week the shelves were shockingly bare! Everywhere. Even the soda.  I still can't understand why you would need more food for one week than the week before. Was there an assumption that the stores wouldn't supply food ever again? My mind just says if you eat it they will make more. Maybe I missed the news that had everyone worried. I have a tendency to buy a little ahead so I haven't bought any TP since January.
The TP run makes some sense because if you aren't going to work, you will need more at home. If your employer isn't supplying it, you will. Maybe the flour and rice make sense if you are making all your own food instead of going out to eat.....maybe. But all the frozen food? Really?

Conference weekend with a special breakfast - Rachel and her dad

In my personal journey, I felt the hand of the Lord in the timing of people in our home. My mother in law was living with us at Christmas time and then Jeffrey felt a need to do more in the Cambodian branch and asked his sister Kim if their mom could come for a few months, so she went up to Chico and visited Kim and Rob in their new home at the end of February.
Rachel had gone in January to school in Jerusalem for a study abroad program and was excited to learn all she could while in the Holy Land. But she came back after a little over two months because of the Coronavirus quarantines going into effect. I felt it was so serendipitous that Rachel would come after her grandmama left so I didn't have to worry about keeping the two apart for two weeks.
Rachel and I worked on several projects, went on a walk together every day, and talked almost every day. I felt bad we couldn't have her friends over and she was stuck with just the old people. We did get together with Andrew and Briona and once with Rebekah and Mike, so she got a little socialization with her siblings.

Birthday dinner for Rachel with Mike and Rebekah - just before blowing candles on her cake

Rachel left the day before her birthday in April and went back to Rexburg with her roommates. They are doing their classes online but are together in their apartment - doing crazy things. But it is different. Instead of an apartment building full of girls, there are only three apartments in the entire building being used by nine girls. Each girl gets her own room. Rachel is happy but said it can get really old going to school, going to work, and socializing all within her own room. The girls have been going out walking to alleviate going stir-crazy.
Meanwhile back in Concord, I found out how very important actual people in person are to me in my life. Jeffrey has a wonderful time going on a long solitary walk and going to his office for six hours to research, ponder, and write. He looks up every once in a while and wonders what all the hoopla is about this virus. I was lonely. I asked Jeffrey to bring his work out in the living room. Nice!


I have exhibited every stress symptom Susie wrote about in her stress care presentation: The three F's - Flight, Fight, and Freeze. I find myself playing sudoku, tile games, and other mindless games - for hours! I am tired and have sat on the couch doing nothing, or irritable about nothing or in a frenzy finding projects to do or walking around the neighborhood. Munching just because.  On the flip side, I know I have no reason not to count my many blessings. I am not down to my last $40, or have lost my income, or been horribly sick - or watched a loved one be horribly sick. No one I personally know has died. In fact, none of my children lost their jobs. All the awful stories I've heard from others haven't happened here. So I tell myself to snap out of it.... while I watch the trees sway in the breeze.

Leaving Chico to come to Concord

Beverly came almost two weeks ago and has saved my sanity. I have a purpose and someone to serve. Someone to care about and plan for. Someone in person to talk to. I let her know how much I appreciate her visiting with us. It has helped on the, "when do I go home?" front. So we do many jig-saw puzzles together, chat about life and events, listen to her play the piano for hours, and in a few minutes, I will dye her hair. Actually, I have shanghaied Jeffrey into helping me just in case this "simple" procedure doesn't turn out simple.

First, put the dye in sections at the roots, and then over the rest.....Jeffrey would apply and I would work it into her hair......it doesn't work like my hairdresser's does......I hope it adds color!

I feel like I am coping better though I still find myself playing games, going from project to project, and walking into rooms wondering why I am there. I am looking forward to inviting friends for dinner and especially going to visit and play with the grands. I love being with friends and going out with the ladies. I'll go in and do a puzzle while 'Perry Mason' is on with Beverly.

Beverly's hair is drying, "Perry Mason" is on and working a puzzle of fireworks - difficult but small