Well this should be a fun and challenging post to write! We have reached the point in the month where I begin dreaming ahead for the next month, making plans and goals for the days to come.
How in the world am I supposed to do that when I don't even know what our capabilities are going to be over the next month?? In truth, it's no different than any other month, and I know that. We're just freshly aware of how little control we have over our plans! So I'll do what I can with what I have and what we know, and we'll (hopefully) reconvene in a month to see what was actually feasible!
Here are my thoughts as of today:
1. Leave the house - to move about freely and at will...failed before it began.
At first I just typed, "leave the house," and then I realized that could just mean a trip to the hospital, so perhaps I should be more specific in my goal. As of today, when I write this to you, our county is under a heavy shelter-in-place order, just like many of you may be experiencing! I have heard conflicting reports on how much we're even really supposed to be outside our homes (aka neighborhood walks and in our yards) but I'm choosing to stay inside my house as much as possible.
Since Ryan has to be out for work anyway, he runs our errands as he makes our way to and from work (only on a need-to-go basis) and I'm choosing to stay inside to do my part to keep any potential germs from spreading into the public. In the last nine days, I've only ventured outside the house one time - to go on a neighborhood walk with Ryan. Other than that, it's been all inside all the time for me. I don't hate it at all, actually, but it would be nice to be able to go outside if I want - to the location of my choosing and at the time of my choosing. After I wrote this post, I heard the President's updated orders, so I'm guessing I still won't even be out in my yard by the end of April. It was a good dream.
2. Finish our anniversary scrapbook.
As of today I'm about 25 pages into this scrapbook, and I'm working on chronicling the second of the five days we were gone. If nothing extreme happens to cause issues in my ability to be productive from a couch, I don't see this as an unreasonable goal. I also want to stay current with our chronological books, which I have accomplished to this point in time.
3. Archive the rest of 2012 blog posts and begin archiving 2013 posts. (Specifically complete November 2012-March 2013).
I set a goal of archiving five months, because if we continue to be confined to home, that should be feasible to do. (Plus this span of time covers the end of our engagement, our wedding and honeymoon, and the beginning of our marriage, so it will be fun to relive and kind of hard to stop going forward in re-reading!
4. Make a fun plan (and plan B) for Ryan's birthday.
Bless all of you who have had birthdays and anniversaries in the time of quarantine. I know there have been a lot of disappointing cancellations to plans over the last few weeks. I have an idea conjured up for Ryan's birthday (which is at the end of April), and I am pretty sure it just got cancelled, due to the extension of social distancing. Good thing I am also working on a backup plan in case this first idea doesn't end up working out for us. I know Ryan isn't the stickler about birthdays that I am, but I really do want to make this a fun day for him - and here's hoping and praying he is well and not under quarantine for his day! ALL the plans would be a lot harder to do from the other side of a window.
5. Make one new recipe.
Our meal planning options look 100% different right now as we use what we have and try not to venture forth into the store more than we absolutely have to. But I have a couple of things in mind that I'd like to try to make for Ryan just to bring a little extra joy to his days. I want to commit to making at least one of them while we're here at home together.
6. Make plans for a uniquely memorable Easter.
EVERYTHING about Easter is going to look different this year. No new dress for me - because we're not allowed to buy clothes in our county right now. (It's okay. I plan to reuse the t-shirt I bought for Easter on the cruise ship last year.) No family meal for us. No church service with friends. But that doesn't mean it can't be a uniquely memorable day, so I'm looking for ways to make that happen!
I feel like this is the best I can do under the circumstances! Maybe I'll come up with some creative new ideas as the month progresses, but this is a start, right ?
6 comments:
Can you guys go for a walk in your neighborhood? I am avoided popular running places but am enjoying runs and long walks!
Passover is going to look odd this year, that is for sure!!
We in Ohio are encouraged to go for walks just maintain social distancing. I encourage my teen to get outside daily for fresh air. Other than that we are shelter in place. Yes Easter will look different this year. I'm blessed that our church provides us with daily words and videos. Every day a different we get a video verse from our pastoral team. It's refreshing and encouraging
Tamar - Ryan says we are allowed to go for walks in our neighborhood, as long as we keep our distance. But, alas, in the last week, we've only had one day with walk-worthy weather. Maybe soon! And yes, it sure is going to look different this year!
Becky - I'm glad you can get out for walks, and I hope the weather allows you to do it regularly! Our church staff is working to try to do these very sorts of things, too! I had a rough week with it last week (in terms of feeling qualified to offer hope) but I'm praying for a better week this week!
Have you been face timing with your parents and sisters? You have not mentioned your family in a while or I missed it.
Anonymous - Great question! My parents can't do FaceTime or video chat, but I did see them (from a distance) about a week ago. They are doing well! Staying home and safe. My sisters are also doing well. I did Facebook video chat with one of them last week for a few minutes. In weird "do I live in Little House on the Prairie days?" twists, Ryan and I are typically not video chatters with anyone. We don't ever Facetime, skype, zoom, etc. with any friends or family. (Last week's adventures with zoom for church were a first for us.) Perhaps this will be the thing that gets us to do that more. I don't know why we don't - we just don't. (We've gotten some strange looks for it before.) We do lots of texting and phone calls with our family - and those things have continued. We just never think to use video!
I'm impressed with how positive you're remaining with setting your goals. I am wrapping my head around that I will likely be celebrating my birthday in quarantine too and that's hard. We had some pretty amazing plans :(
And I am excited for the weather to get warmer so we can be outside more... Please let it happen soon... and please let the snow which is predicted for this weekend NOT happen. Please.
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