I feel like I went to sleep on Sunday and woke up in the middle of "Alas, Babylon" or perhaps the early 2000's TV show "Jericho". The world has changed, at least for my family here in Maine, overnight. But it's not been all bad.
The first thing to effect us was our 18 year old daughter, Rose, being sent home from the University at Fort Kent in northern Maine. She arrived at the bus station in Portland on Friday the 13th (coincidence?) This was the start of her spring break, but as with all U Maine campuses, Fort Kent will not be reopening this semester. She will start on line classes Monday. While I know she misses college life, I'm proud of how she's handling things; even joining her Friday Bible study group via facebook live last night. On Wednesday she and I did a round trip to Fort Kent (12 hours drive time) to empty out her dorm room. This was one of my best days recently, and it deserves its own blog which I'll put up soon.
On Sunday night, the 15th, we got the word that Windham Christian, the school where both my wife, Sue, and I teach would be closing at noon on the next day. We had half a day to get Tuesday's work to the kids, then an in service on Tuesday on how to teach on line. The whole staff went into super-high-efficiency mode, learned how to make and post educational videos, and have been teaching that way ever since. Our daughter, Jo, is also a teacher in Austin, Texas, and will be doing the same starting Monday when her spring break ends.
Our 26 year old, Naomi, is in a different situation. She is an office manager at a car dealership in suburban New York, right in the corona virus hot spot. Her work has been open so far, but with ongoing discussion as to how long this will continue. Please pray for her especially. This uncertainly is hard, as so many can relate to right now. She has a very good employer, boy friend and friends, so she has a good support network.
The hardest part sometimes is the boredom. Yes, preparing, teaching and correcting remote lessons takes close to a full work day, but then what? Not that Sue and I are social butterflies, but we like to get together with friends, go to church, etc. All my shows have to be postponed or canceled (for how long, I don't know, so some shows that are still scheduled may or may not happening...)
But if the worst part is boredom, then we're doing pretty well. When the weather's nice, we can go for walks, and I can juggle in the yard. With Rose home, there's been plenty of opportunity for card games. I'm still painting and trying to blog a bit more, too.