Quarantine Diary #44, 4/26/20 - This Social Experiment that We Are In

Otis and David have 60 just-sewn masks for sale at $5/each plus shipping (which is cheap). Tell him how many you want, what general colors you might like. Such as I took a pale striped one and Len is wearing the only camo he owns.  Or it’s some camo-colored pattern, whatever.  One friend said she is delighted to have rec’d one with a cat pattern. Otis will email back and forth a time or two with you about what you want.

His email address is: otis@otisthompson.com

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Len and I are hosting a Zoom Meet and Greet with Tom Palzewicz (Dem candidate for Congress) this coming Thursday evening at 5pm.  We have probably sent you an email with the particulars and the URL you will need to attend the event.

This is Wisconsin’s District #5

Palzewicz needs nomination signatures to get on the ballot.

Contact me at MB@MaryBethDanielson.com and Len or I will drive to where you are to get your signature while observing social distance safeguards. 

Or check this out: https://www.tomforwi.com/  At the bottom of the text is a line to click that will take you to a downloadable nomination form.  You can fill it out for yourself (and any other voters in your family/friends) and mail it in.

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 We drove to Madison this morning to take some things to our kid and their partner and to get some things from them that they were able to purchase for us at Costco. (Pretty sure we now have enough paper towels to last the rest of our lives.)  

This was an hour of driving each way to see them about 20 minutes outside. We knew ahead of time they would be working on big yard projects so it wouldn’t be an outside sit-down get-together which people can safely do. Not all the constraints of the morning were due to Safer at Home protocols. 

But every time we do one more things like this we get closer to whatever is going to be our next normal. No hugging. Not going inside to see what’s new and catch a beer and use the bathroom.  Asking about jobs with a new concern. They both have jobs; one seems super secure and the other not so much but maybe.  

The gas for the trip costing less than it would have cost to send a package.

Attending our church’s virtual coffee hour via zoom WHILE we were driving home.

The PB&J’s we brought with in case we got hungry (we did) because stopping for a bite isn’t a thing to do right now.

I feel sad. Not bowled over with loss or fear, but sad for what’s gone and I’m not sure how it will come back. 

When we talked with our daughter and her kiddos yesterday, the baby saw our faces in mommy’s phone, broke into a huge grin and crawled over.  To which our daughter wondered, “He’s at the developmental stage where kids realize there are other people in the world. What happens to a kid who sees no one but Mommy, Daddy, and sibling?

Many families have lived in isolation throughout history. He’s not the first baby hanging out at home 24/7.  He’s an awesome little guy and he will do fine.

But we really are in a social experiment right now. All of us. 

All we can do is choose how we will act in spite of it.

I’m going for a walk and when I’m back I’m going to have the beer I wish I could have had this morning with my kids.