PANDEMIC MEMORIES...

What was life like in early 2020?

We had a great start to the year, going on a business trip to the Netherlands and Ireland in February - 2 weeks back to back.  Dan's 60th birthday was spent on the weekend between the 2 trips in Amsterdam.  We thoroughly enjoyed it and knew there was some concern about a virus in China but otherwise were not affected until we re-entered the country and they questioned us about where we'd traveled.  That was February 29. From there things escalated quickly to businesses and church closing, mask-wearing, and shortages!

What was the biggest change? 

Not going places for fear of getting the virus.  Wearing masks, for sure!  Feeling suspicious and wondering if this whole thing was real or not.  Weird shortages at the store - from toilet paper to detergent.  Dan had worked out of the home office for years so that wasn't new for us.  But not going on business trips every few weeks was very different for him.

What were your coping mechanisms?  

Getting outside!  Of course walking has been a big part of my life for a long time.  We also took the opportunity to re-decorate the formal dining room and paint the laundry room.  

What did connection in your relationships look like?  

Less getting together - trying to "social distance" - a new term for everyone!  With our kids we still got together for birthdays and holidays and a few times we played games on an app called House Party.  Unfortunately we did not see any of Dan's family at Thanksgiving or Christmas because their small town had a terrible outbreak of Coronavirus.

What will you remember most?

The disappointment of plans being cancelled.  We had planned an Alaskan cruise far in advance to accommodate all 6 of our kids schedules.  The ship we booked ended up in the news as one of the ones there was a Coronavirus outbreak on. I really felt bad about was those who missed graduations and weddings or they were drastically different that what they wanted.  But the worst was those we knew who lost loved ones from the virus!  Another thing that happened was Dan had our pool filter blow up in his face and he ended up in the hospital for several days and I was not allowed in to see him nor knew how bad it was for the first8 hours.  It was a scary and frustrating time.  He ended up having 5 more surgeries on his teeth/eyes and we are thankful he still has his vision.  

What was the biggest challenge?

Not knowing how long this was going to go on...and the sadness for those who died.  There were many others who died this year as a result of the isolation and other complications the pandemic caused.

What was a beautiful memory?

There is not much I can think of except worshipping outside with our church family, singing outside in the OC Forum.  

What do you believe now that you didn't one year ago?

I already knew this but was reminded...Life is short and we should appreciate each day!

What would you do differently?

Nothing - I found out how much of an introvert I am.  I love reading books and working on things at home, and did more of both.  But if I was unable to go to my Body & Soul exercise class I would definitely suffer emotionally.  Praying with my sisters in Christ and moving to inspirational music really is a boost for me!

What will you carry forward?

Don't be afraid to try new things or change old ways.  Look at things from a different perspective.  Women's Ministry that I'm volunteering for had to embrace some new ways of doing things.  

 

NIGHTMARE OF A TRIP...

 OK, Maybe that is being overly dramatic.  Let's just say it didn't go how we envisioned... 

February 8 we started hearing about this big cold snap/snowstorm coming down from Canada to get us.  The more the weatherman built it up each night, the more The Hubs was adamant that we should skip it and go south.  I wasn't quite ready to travel again, but agreed.  He would take his work with him and I could take my projects as well.  The weather looked like it would hit Texas too but wouldn't be as extreme as the Oklahoma temperatures.  

We decided on South Padre Island, Texas,  where we spent our honeymoon almost 38 years ago!  I hadn't been back there since then, although he had for a work meeting.  So that excited me.  We drove down on a Friday afternoon and spent the night in Waco as the storm was rolling in, and I was a little nervous as there had been a big car accident - 50 car pile up - in Ft. Worth a couple of days earlier due to ice/slush.  We made it just fine and left early the next morning, greeted with patchy ice on the roads.  We drive a 4 WD so The Hubs is pretty confident and we didn't have a problem.  It was actually nice, not many drivers were out. 

We drove 7 more hours and arrived at South Padre in the late afternoon.  We got some groceries and got settled into our condo.  We had a tiny view of the gulf and a big view of a water park.  Sunday we worshipped online and I made some soup we could eat over the next couple of days, as they were predicted about 30 degrees for their cold snap down there.  The wind was fierce, too!  We got out and walked through a Farmer's Market - those vendors were dedicated to be out there in that.  We stopped by another store and drove around checking out our honeymoon hotel that had been turned into condos, and also a restaurant we had eaten at 38 years ago that was still in business, and made notes to eat there again.  We even walked on the beach but could only stand it for about 15 minutes with the terrible wind.  We were looking forward to the mid-week warm up for sure!

We awoke Monday morning to no power.  Our condo was still pretty warm, though 65 degrees.  Power came on and off three times so we were hopeful that the next time it would stay on permanently.  The wind was still fierce and it was 28 degrees so we opted to stay in - except for the The Hubs when he went out for his morning Starbucks run.  I got out the soup when the power was on and heated it, and also started frying the bacon I had bought, only to get it half-fried!  In the afternnoon we decided to go buy candles.  That's when we noticed in the nearby town that Walmart was closed - WHAT - but HEB was open.  There were long lines inside and so we just picked up a few things - we had food, anyway.  There were NO bananas to be found and everyone else was buying candles and water, too.  We picked up some water as well.  

Monday evening our water slowed to a trickle and we realized there were water problems.  We had no local news and our rental agency had not returned my texts asking if they knew when this might be resolved.  Tuesday we awoke and now the condo is 62 degrees.  So I guess still no heat/power.  The Hubs wanted to drive to the nearest big town, Brownsville and use some free Wifi to work, so we did.  It was about 30 minutes away, and guess what?  They too had every other stop light out, plus the lines were really long at the fast food drive thrus and stores.  We just started realizing the magnitude of the problem.  Even with 28 degrees, Texas systems couldn't handle it.

We thought we'd try to stick it out in a cold condo, after all, we had paid for the week.  But a few hours later, we realized this might not be fixed anytime soon and should head north.  We threw away the food in the refrigerator that had been off for about 36 hours now, and tried to wash the dirty dishes with bottled water.  We started emailing/calling hotels in San Antonio and Austin - surely that would be ok?!  No availability, no availability, was the story we got over and over...and as we were driving it was getting icier.  Along the way we passed lots of busy gas stations and hoped our gas would hold out for a long time.  We stopped for dinner and to gas up, hoping to use the bathrooms, only to see them blocked off.  WHAT.  We stopped on a nearby farm road for The Hubs to take a break.  

Finally, about 9 p.m., we got to College Station.  I had texted my niece who lives there about putting us up for the night if our hotel didn't work out.  One Dan had emailed and gotten a reservation at was not answering the phone, so we finally figured out they weren't open for customers or the phone wasn't working or something, and other one had a locked door, so we went on to their house.  They were having "rolling power outtages" to conserve energy, so they had the candles out, but we were able to take a shower and go to sleep just fine.  They were so kind to let us have their bedroom.

My niece with Cally

The next day we found a vacancy in a nearby Aloft hotel, and got settled in, so The Hubs could work and hopefully the weather would improve.  They too were experiencing the occasional power outages, but we charged our devices and got by.  Even though The Hubs couldn't find a Starbucks that was open, I did hear from a friend that Fuego (a Mexican restaurant) was open.  I got some great take-out from there - enough for 2 days! 

The next day was much like the first, but we actually went to the workout room in the hotel when the power was on and enjoyed that.  Also, our friends who gave us the tip about the Mexican food invited us over for coffee.  We were able to get away about 4:00 p.m. and they lived only 8 minutes away.  It was nice to go to their house and visit for a couple of hours!  Later that evening I conducted a zoom class and it went just fine.

Friday we decided the roads seemed improved and we decided we would head home.  We had no problem and 6 hours later we were back in snow-packed Oklahoma!  Actually, our neighborhood was slick but that was the only bad place we encountered.  

Moral of the story:  You can't run from life's difficulties!  Truth be told, we never felt in danger but it is isolating when you are in an unknown place having all these weird shortages. You don't really know the best news source to check in with and when the rental agency is closed up and not answering your calls, that's isolating, too.  Next time we travel we'll probably check the weather forecast in the area a little better.  And we'll always bring our water and granola bars, just in case.  :)