Day 2

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Hello – it’s me! Again. When I socialized the idea of a regular diary in the current situation, one of my dear friends asked me “are you sure you want to do it daily? You think you’ll have enough topics?” I am sure that was a polite way of saying, make sure you are not boring us. He got me thinking!

Guess what? I would have enough content (in my head at least) to do this 3 times a day. But no worries, I am not going to do that. And of course I am also counting on you letting me know, if it’s getting too much! That’s what comments are for. Do not be silently absent, be publicly annoyed so I can know, please. Thank you!

For now I am going to try and share something daily, some posts might be rather short (we’ll see about that, given I am also rather chatty) and some might be longer. Keep reading them, if you are interested. No pressure!

How are you? I was excited to see so many comments on my first diary entry. Keep them coming, guys. This does not work as a one way street! As some of the comments said, meeting here and being able to “chat” shows all of us, we are not alone and we are all experiencing similar things and are having similar thoughts and feelings.

My current overall situation is similar to yesterday. Working on the couch (my inner couch potato I introduced in the “about me” page is suuuper excited right now), making it a point to get up regularly and also to get in 2 longer walks with the hubs as Sam was in Daycare today. And yes, it was compliant with Social Distancing – they have curbside pick up and even though pups can “carry” the virus (outside, on them), they are not getting infected and they are swimming and are out in the sun a lot during the day. Whatever they carried, will be gone before you pick up your happy and exhausted dog.

So we went walking. My hubby and I are so much faster, when we walk just the two of us. Mainly because neither him nor I are stopping and sniffing at every single pet pee spot that’s out there…but more on these walks later, when I have to talk about SOCIAL DISTANCING, again. Seems to me, it’s not really all that clear.

There was a major change in my day to day life on Saturday. Our go to Starbucks (aka second home) was forced to close. I have to admit, it did shock me (even though I had seen it coming) and left me sad. Yes, I AM a Starbucks coffee addict. I am. I do not have many indulgences, but my daily Starbucks Skinny Iced Cinnamon Dolce Latte with 4 shots Blonde espresso is one of them and it’s important to me.

Yes, you are right. I am not really suffering or gravely impacted by the current situation and if I can “mourn” the loss of my morning coffee, I might be ridiculous and bored. You are not wrong, absolutely not. BUT I am sure knowing me by now, you understand that the coffee is not just a coffee in times like these. It’s a token of normality, when most all things around me are crazy, out of structure and out of order. It’s an affirmation, that my day is still starting as it usually does. With my yoghurt with berries and, yes, my Starbucks coffee. It’s also for the better for everyone that has to have the first call of my workday with me, trust me.

So did I go crazy by now, you should ask? No. I did not. But that is only thanks to the best husband on earth universe. Starbucks (for now) was able to keep their drive thru stores open (Social Distancing, there, I said it again). The next drive thru is 5.9 miles away from our house. And my husband and partner in crime is driving there EVERY single morning to get us our morning coffee. And so until now, no one has been harmed, injured or killed. Things are still good!

Today unfortunately, the coffee was not quite enough. A little bit of a “funk” has been going on and is still lingering around (check out my “Beat the funk” post for insights as to what might be the reason and pick one, they are probably all correct today). So keep that in mind when reading the rest of the blog – it might have had a little bit of an impact on the events that happened.

So we went for “adults only” walks (no, this is nothing inappropriate). Henning (my husband) and I did not keep a 6 feet distance to each other as we did not stop sitting on the couch together and we are also sharing a bedroom. See yesterday’s post. BUT we are definitely doing all we can, to keep said distance to others that might be passing by. Now IF Social Distancing would be working, there should be only occasional encounters of either couples (that may or may not walk awkwardly far away from each other) or families trying to get out and about to get some fresh air. And here is the problem. Social Distancing is NOT working.

We were walking our ways, chatting and hopping aside when people passed by when we suddenly ran into (would have been literally running into them, had we not jumped aside) these 3 ladies. Blond, ponytails and caps on their head, dressed in sports attire. If I had a bias I would say typical “soccer moms”. Of course I would usually only think that. Those 3 ladies were clearly friends, not family. And they seemed to have formed some kind of “walking club”. Of course they were taking up the entire side walk, clearly not thinking about keeping a distance – between themselves or at least to us.

I will be very honest, these are the moments I wish my husband would have one of his major sneeze attacks. And a super wet one, please! Since that did unfortunately not happen, there might or might not have been some (a lot) curse words. But I am realistic enough to know, it’s more for me to release frustration since the ladies where clearly blessed with enough stupidity, they would not have gotten it at all.

Sigh! So let me try to explain the whole Social Distancing thing again, people. It’s really NOT that hard. Avoid all and every personal and physical contact to people that you CAN avoid. And avoiding physical contact does not mean you can meet them, but just not hug them. Don’t meet them. At all. So to be super precise – even though I know I am preaching to the choir and you know all of this anyways – maybe one of the ponytails accidently comes across this:

People you can’t avoid are people like minor (or adult) children that are living with you. It also includes your spouse (unless you are looking to use this as an excuse to get rid of them, then go aheand and tell them you are social distancing and kick them out). And bad news, it also inlcudes your parents in law, if they live with you. Don’t complain, you made that mistake before this virus hit, now you got to live with it!

People you can avoid? Basically all others! But examples might be helpful here as well. You can avoid your best friends (ponytail walking clubs included or the Floridian male equivalent, the bycycle club), family that does not live with you, teachers (sorry, but you got this home schooling thing!), Doctors if you do not have an emergency, your hair stylist, your nail stylist, your make-up artist etc. . Even people in the grocery stores can be “avoided” by keeping said 6 feet social distance. But of course it does not help waiting in line for the store to open and keeping that distance, if then everyone runs into the store at the same time squeezing themselves in with their elbows…just saying!

So what should the ponytail club have done? Well, if they so desperately wanted to walk together, they should have done what many, many, many US folks are doing all day long , when they are walking (or driving or gardening, washing the car etc): CALL. Be at different walking spots, call each other, put each other on face time and go for a SOCIALLY DISTANCED walk “together”. I repeat – it is THAT simple!

Unfortunately these Covidiots (did you look it up yet?) will be the reason for all of us in Florida to be put on lockdown soon. When that happens, I will still be lucky as I still have my husband, the pup and our garden. But I will also be furious and sad and annoyed and all the feelings because it will be so unnecessary. If there was common sense anyways.

As you can imagine, today’s funk is not making things better and cursing would have maybe been a little less strong (probably not) without it. But it’s tough to watch this happening, knowing it is not only wrong, but also could cost lives and not be able to stop it from happening. I am not cut out for just watching helplessly. It’s against one of my core values – caring!

How about you? Those of you, that are not yet on a stay @ home? Are you frustrated about the Covidiots out there? And the ones of you that are under a shelter in place order, what are you doing against cabin fever? Share your tips – thanks to ponytail clubs and other Covidiots around the globe, we might all need it sooner than later!

Until then – hang in there! I will now go and beat the funk. I’ll be back tomorrow! We will get through this! It might just take a little longer, than we all would like to experience this.

Be kind to yourself and then to others!

Stay healthy, keep our distance and take care!

Hugs,

Nannette