It’s a Tuesday, wait Wednesday, and the madness has not slowed down.  I was all about Spring Break. We had plans and went out almost every day. We did small trips and the boys enjoyed every minute of it.

It wasn’t until the Friday before school was set to start that it was setting in that the Covid-19 that’s sweeping the world and it was going to hit our little town. Eric & I got the automated call that NISD was extending our Spring Break. It was something I wasn’t prepared for. It meant that I’d be buying double the groceries, I’d have to take the boys to work with me and then figure out what to do to keep them busy and out of wrestling matches and fighting over what movies to watch. It was becoming a bigger ordeal, but I knew that we’d still be fine.

Sunday morning was pickup for my grocery order, a full weeks worth of food. I was quite worried when the grocer came out and there was one box. “I’m sorry ma’am, we were unable to fill your order 100%” It wasn’t even 25% of what I needed, but I thanked him and took what I had. I normally spend about $150 and here I was with $20 worth of frozen foods. I looked at Eric and we knew this wasn’t going to be a smooth transition from our normal lives to the “quarantine”.

We spent Sunday at home, trying to rest and get ready for our unknown week. By Sunday afternoon, my boss had called and said that he was in quarantine and I’d need to work from home. Awesome…I was in no way prepared. I hadn’t brought my laptop or any of my work stuff home because I fully expected it to blow over. My boss assured me that things would work out and we’d be fine. He said it’ll get worse, but it’ll get better after that. I had a job, it was going to be slow, but in the later weeks, I’d be back to my normal work schedule.

But my madness wasn’t what the blog for today was about. And if you’ve read this far, thanks for hanging in there. Here’s my point of the Covid-19….

This morning, I loaded up all three boys and headed to our local (20 minute drive) meat market. I was hoping that if I got in early then they’d have some meat. Boy was I correct! I was able to stand in a line because they were only letting in three people at a time. I waited and spoke with two women about how crazy this virus is and how it’s affecting everyone’s lives, etc. Once we were let in, the lady in front of me was ordering her meats and was told there was a limit. So she simply ordered the limit and went about her day. As I was ordering my meats, I noticed the older lady behind me arguing with the meat market owner! She was upset because she wanted to pick out her own meat and they explained how since it’s so busy, they would grab from the top and go down, no exceptions. She was not thrilled but finally said okay well I need a certain amount. Again, she was told, there is a limit and we cannot give you over so many pounds of meat per person. This time she had had it and went off on how she had been a customer and it was ridiculous that she couldn’t order as much as she wanted. I couldn’t believe this lady. She was easily in her mid 60s and was already rude as it was, but to sit here and cause a scene because she couldn’t buy additional meat was outrageous. The Romo Clan is a party of five and I was able to get plenty of meat, so I can’t understand why she needed the meat then and there. I went ahead and picked out the last of what we would need and saw some powdered donuts that I knew the boys, who hadn’t had breakfast, would love. So I grabbed the last three bags and was going into checkout. A woman saw me checking out and was bummed because there were no more donuts. I handed her a bag and said “my boys can share” and turned around. She tapped my shoulder and said “Are you sure?” I nodded and said “It’s a difficult time for everyone, the last thing we need is rude and inconsiderate people”. She smiled and thank me and we went about our days.

Teachers are out of work and are in unknown territories because we’ve never had a situation like this. Hourly wage workers are getting cut hours (or more hours if they are grocery store workers) and everything is bare minimum. Our oil field workers are getting laid off due to the oil barrels dropping. No contact with groups means no parties or gatherings. For me, it’s been difficult and the panic attacks have come in strong. But you have your health and you have your family. Keep them close and enjoy the time you can. This will get better and you’ll come back stronger than you were.

 

xoxo

Sunset