As I sit here in my living room on a Friday night, I consider what I might be doing if it wasn’t for the Coronavirus pandemic. Just two weeks ago tonight, I was out and about taking pictures of locals at restaurants and other venues. Pictures of people out and having a good time on a Friday night. And now, for the second consecutive week, there would be no pictures to be found.
Another facet of the pandemic is the fact that I’ve largely been living at home for the past two weeks. And while my German shepherd Abby is a good companion, there’s nothing to replace being able to converse with other human beings. Tonight, after taking pictures, I would go to the Barnes and Noble Cafe’, my home away from home, and be enjoying a coffee, writing in my journal, and talking with my guy friends. Tonight the cafe’s bare and here I sit, at home, alone.
My interim position as a fourth grade teacher has taken on a whole new focus as well. Last week, we had prepared packets of work for the students to do at home. I supplemented this with some online resources. Most of my waking hours this past week has been spent in front of a computer screen, making additional assignments, and corresponding to both students and parents online. I was given a special phone number to make calls to all my homeroom parents and was able to actually talk to about half of them.
Today, I decided I needed to get outside, if only to do some much-needed yard work. My front yard’s grass had grown fairly high and I noticed two other neighbors mowing their yards, so the pressure was on. I got my riding mower out and discovered the battery was dead. I took the old one out and went to the local auto supply store to get a new one. With the new battery installed, I cranked it up and then couldn’t get the parking brake to release to actually get the riding mower to move. When I was able to figure that issue out, I got to mowing. The rider stalled out because the grass was so high. Perhaps I had waited far too long to mow it….
Once I’d gotten most the front yard mowed, the belt came loose. It took a while to re-thread that and then the brake issue came upon me again. I got that to finally respond and the mower wouldn’t move forwards or backwards,,,I decided when I finally did get it to move to take it back in the garage. Luckily, my push mower was a lot more cooperative, and I was able to get the rest of the front yard mowed, including some of the trim work.
At the end of the day, I realized a shower would be a necessity. I am too proud to share how long it’d been since I had one. It was quite refreshing and made me feel much better. For supper tonight, I had two toasted peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I share them with my dog and it was overall quite filling.
I hope sleep comes easily tonight. Several nights these past two weeks, it’s been hard to come by.
And so here I sit, on a Friday night, wondering what the next weeks will bring. It’s an uncertain future for us all and about all we’re able to do at this point is keep the faith and trust the journey.
David Lee
David Lee 