Isn’t it weird how almost over night New Jersey went from business as usual to a Stay Home order? I will be the first to admit I didn’t take this virus seriously in the beginning. When we were first receiving information it wasn’t really explained. I thought people were crazy! While I was going regular grocery shopping, people were already hoarding disinfecting wipes and toilet paper. Then later in the week, when I went back for more regular groceries, the chicken and meats were gone? There was conflicting reports. Only older adults were getting sick. Children and babies and pregnant women were fine. Then children under 14 weren’t getting sick. Then Europe was showing more and more cases. Once the reports from Italy starting coming in, I realized this was not a bad version of the flu. This was a serious problem. Italy is basically fighting a war with the virus; they’re losing. People in the US were starting to test positive for Covid-19. The decided to close schools until March 30. My son’s last day in school was, ironically, Friday, March 13th. We have been home since Saturday the 14th. We started hearing more and more about STAYING HOME TO FLATTEN THE CURVE. Somewhere around day 6 it started to get real for me. More and more people were being diagnosed. To be honest, I was doing a lot more reading about the virus and different places affected. I was going to bed every night and waking up every morning wondering WHY we weren’t on a NATIONAL lockdown? Things took a turn. Now the US was starting to fight hard. We are not flattening the curve. New York is the new epicenter. We are not flattening the curve. People are having Covid or Quarantine Parties? We are not flattening the curve. My children have not seen their grandparents or Aunts or friends. We are home schooling and working from home. We are on Day 18 today. We have not been in contact with people for 18 days. We order dinner from local restaurants to support the economy and small businesses. We use the Drizly App to supply our alcohol. Deliveries are left on the porch. NO CONTACT. We order online for whatever we need. We prepared. My husband was ready for the Apocalypse. However, our Amazon subscription, that we’ve had for 3+ years, for Lysol Disinfecting wipes never came. It was supposed to come on March 15th. But because people started hoarding these items, we didn’t get ours. And to be honest, I don’t know when we will get them again? I WILL NOT go to a store to get them. I will not start my 15 days of quarantine OVER. We will stay home to keep ourselves healthy. We will stay home so that we know we are being safe for everyone who HAS to work. We will stay home for my mom and my in laws. We will stay home to protect ourselves. Virginia’s Governor has extended the Stay Home order until June 10th. I’m hoping that it is a, hope for the worst – expect the best, type situation. I can only hope that our state follows suit and that maybe we can flatten the curve enough to be okay by Memorial Day. Because honestly, I am okay. I am happy, with my family, we are all healthy, our family is healthy and so far our mentality is positive and intact. When it is cold and rainy and dreary…I’m okay being home. When it’s occassionaly nice out, I’m okay being home. But once the weather turns and we’re still home, I WILL LOSE MY MIND.
For now, we sit and wait. We stay home. We stay safe. We stay healthy.
Thanks for stopping by,
Christina