I know that the photo above looks like it's from dining out during the pandemic, but it was just a fun winter dining thing we did pre-pandemic.
My husband and I are high-risk, so we've been insanely cautious for this last year. No dining out, indoor or outdoor. No takeout food at all. Groceries are only delivered or put into our trunk (no contact).
One year ago today was our last sort of normal day out. We did one of our rare Whole Foods trips (everyone in the store was maskless then) and ate at a fast food place on the way home. We decided that we were going to mostly stay home from then on, and my husband decided to work from home, whether his boss liked it or not. Soon after his decision, his whole office shifted to working from home.
I've only left the apartment three times in this last year. Two times were visiting with my mum on our apartment patio (separated by at least six feet), and one time was with Mum and our nephew distanced in a park (for his birthday). My husband goes out more often, to move the car, mail packages, pick up prescriptions, etc.
We didn't do that much socially even pre-pandemic, but we used to go to my mum's about once a week to play Scrabble, and we'd sometimes dine out with her or have takeout at her house on those same days, or sometimes we'd dine out with her and our nephew. So, the change hasn't been too drastic for us. We just couldn't afford to dine out or shop even before the pandemic, so we didn't do much then either.
I'm grateful that my husband has been able to successfully work from home. That's two hours a day of dangerous commuting time that he doesn't have to do, and it's worked out fine, so far.
I'm also glad that we live where we can get deliveries of Walmart groceries. Our food options are limited, but at least it's relatively safe and simple.
I'm also lucky that I like my husband and he likes me, so we aren't suffering by being together. I feel bad for people in bad marriages or other rough living situations.
We quarantine our groceries for three days every time we get them. Refrigerated things go in refrigerator drawers for three days, frozen things go to one side of the freezer, and the rest of the things sit in our entryway until the three days is up.
Many people would say that our behavior this past year has been extreme, but we are doing what we are comfortable with. Not much is going to change for us for the foreseeable future. We will continue to do the same things, because we really can't risk getting sick.
Because of our refusal to eat takeout, our limited grocery options, and our various health conditions, our meals are tremendously boring most of the time. I feel like I'm constantly fixing vegetables, doing dishes, and making other food, and in fact, I sort of am. I need to work on being a bit more creative with our meals.
We only recently started doing Zoom "meetings" with Mum, so we could play Scrabble. For very long, the other two were skeptical about how Scrabble would work, but I figured it out. Mum is one team, and we are the other team, so my husband and I take turns when it's our turn. We have a Scrabble board at each house, and a whole bag of letters at each house. We play with nine letters on our rack, just like we used to at her house. It's working out fine to play like this. It's fun.
The first time we tried to connect, we were trying to use some Facebook chat thing, because I had seen an ad saying it was so easy to use. Well, that was a lie, because we spent an hour or more first trying that, then switching to Zoom and trying to figure that out. If that had been a YouTube video, it would've been pretty funny, because we were all so clueless. Most of the time we connect easily now, but we've still had some troubles. I always say that most technology should be easier and simpler to use. It really should.
I dabbled a bit with Facebook this year, but it isn't really a healthy place for me to be. I have enough trouble staying mentally centered without messing around with that.
So, I wouldn't say that we are thriving, but we certainly are surviving. Mum is doing online Tae Kwon Do classes (she's a second degree black belt) and taking some private TKD classes, too. She may have done an online tournament today, but I haven't checked on that yet.
I think often about all of the people who don't have the options that we do...people who have to go to work, have to be around people, can't get groceries delivered, etc. Nurses and other essential workers are saints, though I certainly didn't fault, in any way, the nurses who quit near the beginning of the pandemic because their employers weren't providing the proper equipment to keep them safe.
I know that my husband and I are lucky to have the options that we do. But then there are the fools that go around maskless and hang out in crowds for no good reason, or who think they have to have their Italian vacation or whatever, and so the virus keeps spreading.
So many people have lost loved ones. It's really such a sad and terrible mess.
Okay, I know I need to calm down. I've been angry way too often this past year. I need to take charge of my life here at home and keep working on making things better in this, our new reality.