Saturday was Alaina’s birthday. We had a fun party planned in Brooklyn, but the rapidly unfolding coronavirus situation led instead to us packing up and leaving the city indefinitely. It has only been a few weeks since the first case was discovered in the US but it has progressed exponentially and 48 hours ago, all major sports leagues were suspended and Broadway closed; schools across the country including my various work establishments were shut down, leaving me without scheduled obligations for the forseeable future. The general, worldwide consensus for this disease seems to be “duck and cover and prevent its spread at all costs”. The virus is lethal to somewhere under 5% of the population but even if you are likely to survive, you may be a vector towards someone in that vulnerable group. This has made our decision to temporarily evacuate our city home and move to The Land fairly simple.
I am still in shock and unable to process the full magnitude of the situation, but everywhere that creates crowds has shut down or is operating at minimal capacity as people are being strongly advised to quarantine themselves or practice social distancing. The situation is bleak now but I know that we are resilient and will find a way to overcome this challenge. It’s a temporary pause in our normal routine; for how long we can’t be sure. We will be forced to reset and re-evaluate, adapting to our new situation, hopefully with an enhanced appreciation of the qualities in life that we may take for granted. It will be a struggle and everyone will be severely impacted in many different ways, but maybe we will finally recognize how interconnected we all are and transition into this altered existence by discovering newfound compassion and empathy for a suffering humanity.
In the meantime, I am lucky to have lots of family time to look forward to! Homeschooling Ivy and Miles will be an adventure and I will finally spend some time learning the violin and the trumpet plus I set my drums up in the garden shed, so I will always have something to bang on! We have shelter, food and water, solar electricity, the internet and a wonderful family with plenty of instruments. As unfortunate as the global situation is, I feel very lucky right now. Stay healthy and we will get through it!