….what the pandemic state of emergency taught me (so far)…

These are interesting times, to say the least.  Indeed, these are historical times we are living in as this pandemic has changed the world view and continues to evolve the world view.  At the same time as we have available to us the most intimate facts about the pandemic around the world, with details such as number of confirmed cases, number of deaths, number of persons in hospital and out of those which are in ICU, our world has become very small and composed.  Our personal world has been reduced to these four walls, voices on the telephone and, if we are lucky, faces on a computer screen.  Some of us have been blessed with the ability to continue to work from home while others are blessed to provide services that are essential to humanity.  Others work in jobs that require them to be onsite and those sites have been temporarily closed to the public.  We have been told, ‘go home and stay home’.   A friend of mine, a local history buff from Stratford, just to the west of Kitchener, suggested a young newly graduated nurse friend of my daughter’s keep a journal during her first full-time nursing position at a local hospital.  She reminded me that in 20 years, all these perspectives will be part of history.  Truly, I believe her. 

Now my perspectives here are not of a nature that would be considered historical reference in the least, but they have been important insights into myself and have challenged some of the attitudes and beliefs I had about myself.   Just as this pandemic is far from over, and some countries are still, in fact, far from having the spread of the illness under control, I have learned a lot about myself already. 

Working on a contract out of Winnipeg right now impacted the date I went into self-isolation.  The province, smack dab in the middle of the country geographically, wasn’t experiencing the surge of cases Ontario was so their response was a little different.  I don’t want to say ‘slower’ as it was appropriate for the experience of the population.  In addition, working the provincial health organization, I could see the work being done to prepare to handle instances of covid-19 if, and when, they hit.   So, working in Manitoba and keeping my eye on home in Ontario and with a flight scheduled for the 27^th of March, I finally made the decision to fly home on the 23^rd instead after provinces started closing their borders to non-essential travel and WestJet started rescheduling flights in ways that would get me home but with some very creative stop-overs along the way.

So, here on Day 54 of my self-isolation, here are some of the things I’ve learned:

• The less I move around, the more tired I am and the more I can sleep.  How is this possible?  It is now, having basically moved from my bedroom upstairs to the dining table on the main floor where I work, day-in and day-out, that I am exhausted by 7pm, asking if it’s too early to go to bed at 8pm, giving in at 9pm and asleep by 10pm.  Also, very unusual is that I sleep very well and basically straight through until 7am or later with only a washroom break around 3am.  Ironically, I still have bags under my eyes most mornings.
• The simpler life is, the funnier things are.  This has been very interesting to me.  Within the first two or three weeks of being home I noticed that I found some things that would formally have been amusing, were now very funny.  I laugh far more often and far more heartily.  There have been a couple of times that I’ve even laughed myself breathless, gotten a little dizzy and even saw stars.  No matter, it is a very pleasant experience and I’m sure that I’ve laughed far more in the past 6 weeks than I had the entire past year.
• The notion of ‘important things’ is definitely subjective and there can definitely be a disconnect when we don’t express ourselves explicitly.  In the few days before I flew home from Winnipeg, I suggested that my girls go out and stock up on “some of the things we would want to have in the house if going shopping was to become difficult”.  The picture I had in my mind was of some food for the freezer, baking items, laundry and hand soap, cleaning vinegar and borax, canned goods….you get the idea.   What I came home to was a Rubbermaid bin with lots of snack items, chocolate, cookies, some odd toiletries, toothpaste and wafer cookies.  My one daughter called it our Armageddon box.  Not exactly what I’d imagined and certainly not what I think I’d want to take to the day of reckoning.  We have since cracked that box open and plundered the contents.  I’ve realized that my efforts to aim for 100 years of age are all well and good but are entirely out of my hands.  If I’m going to go, I’m going with the chocolate and wafer cookies!
• When all days look like Saturday, it’s hard to tell one from the other.  There is an old saying, “if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck….it’s likely a duck”.  That is certainly true these days when it come to the days of the week.  I have worked remotely off and on for the past 6 years.  In fact, my entire last year of my last contract was worked from home.  Somehow, these days are just super hard to tell one from the other.  Part of it is routine.  Saturdays were for housecleaning, laundry and grocery shopping.  Sundays are for church and meals with the kids and grandkids.  Monday started the work week off.  Sports events were marked on the calendar.  Now, there are no errands to be run as we have been using a service to get our groceries.  The housecleaning and laundry are getting done at will.  Sunday worship is online and recorded for those who may miss the live stream.  I can’t see my son or grandchildren in person these days.  Sports are cancelled and favourite tv shows are in rerun mode.  Most of all, my girls are working from home as well so that mental clue of watching them get ready and go off to work isn’t available to help me reset the new day.  I have caught myself several times struggling to confirm, not so much the date but what day of the week is it today anyway!
• Video-conferencing…take a look behind you before you connect!  My current employment has done a truly phenomenal job of equipping staff with all the technology to enable work from home.  For me, since the work I do connects me with people all over the province, my meets are rarely in person.  But that was not the norm for all staff and our Digital teams have done amazing work to keep us all connected and working.  We have all been equipped with FAQs and knowledge articles to help us navigate the new technology, but no one has provided a tip sheet on things to keep in mind when attending a video-conferencing meeting.  If I could only give a couple of important tips, they would be to make sure you know what’s behind you, adjust your camera so it is actually pointing at your face and remove you apron before you engage the camera.   I have attended more than my fair share of meetings where one person’s tile is only revealing the very top of their head and I, myself, have sat down and joined a meeting only to realize I still have an apron on when I’ve activate my video.  Trust me, there is no discrete way of removing an apron.  As for what’s behind you?  Well, fortunately my back is to a lovely tapestry my mother completed for me before she died so any chaos that is happening in front of me is never seen by the other attendees.  I can say from experience though, the top of someone’s head is not the most eyebrow raising thing I’ve witnessed!
• Just how dirty were my hands?!  I’ve long since seen the instructions posted in all public washrooms on the correct way of washing my hands.  You know the ones that showed pictures of how to make sure to soap on the tops, between the fingers and around the thumbs.  The new instructions are to ‘wash your hands like a surgeon for at least 20 seconds’.  I must have been filthy!  So now with the tune of “She’ll Be Comin’ Round The Mountain When She Comes” running through my head at none-too-fast a pace and laced with the obligatory ‘yee-haws’ in the appropriate places, my hands shine like my grandfather’s well-polished Sunday shoes!  The first week or so was rough and my hands got so rough they were almost raw, and I was spending as much on hand lotion as I was on hand soap.  But the skin on my hands has proven exceptionally resilient and has taken to the frequent and vigorous washing in stride.
• There’s always (?!) room for one more.  As some will already know, when I travel home from Winnipeg, I often transport rescue dogs from the north of the province, where veterinary services are scarce, to southern Ontario where the chances of adoption are far greater.  On my last trip home on the 23^rd I was supposed to be bringing 3 dogs with me.  Unfortunately, once at the airport, the rescue folks realized one of the crates was broken.  While they spent time trying to fix it, I was taking care of the pup that was supposed to be going in the crate.  In the end, the crate wouldn’t work, and the pup had to stay back.  For some reason, I just couldn’t get this pup out of my mind.  I asked for an update from the rescue agency and they were able to tell me that they had arranged for a huge truck to transport the pup along with many more dogs before the provincial travel ban would be imposed.  In the end, a cute young pup joined our family.  We’ve called her Scotia, a nod to our heart heritage down east.  She’s a big girl, a ‘Manitoba Designer’ breed, they call them, but the guesses are part retriever and part Siberian Husky.  She is a sweetie and a welcome addition.
• Even ‘nesters’ like myself need to socialize!  I love my house and my close circle of friends and relatives, but I realize how much I miss the connection with people and services.  I miss the monthly trips to my hair salon for the hour and a half visit as much as the treatments.  I miss sitting in our local coffee shop with my girls.  I miss ‘dropping in’ at Chapters for a browse.  When I’d travel for work, I’d always tell people that I do miss my kids, but I miss my grandkids and the pets more.  Now, the explanation of that is that my kids and I text and call every day so that fills the gap to a certain degree but my grandchildren are much harder to reach by text.  And the pets, well, they have my heart too and there is no way to connect with them.  Being under house isolation has been very hard as I haven’t spent any time with my grandchildren since February and they are just around the corner.
• Hugs!  What can I say!  I was raised amongst huggers. 

On a heavier note….

• Canadians are known to be one of the most courteous societies in the world but we’re not always kind.  In some ways I can understand people who stock-piled early on for themselves and their families.  There was a sense of urgency and survival instincts set in.  It was very unfortunate to see some people buy out multiple weeks’ worth of items, especially items for babies such as diapers and baby wipes, etc, which resulted in others being left without.  But far worse than that were the people who purchased very large quantities of goods at the big box and warehouse stores with the intent of price gouging.  That was not our best.
• We have many heroes in our society and I would not want to minimize the effort of anyone or any one group.  I have to say though, that it’s *also been our younger people, our students, who have been out there from day one, manning the drive-through windows while we needed our Tim Hortons and Starbucks.  When we needed our little fix of ‘normal’, they were there.  Kudos to the students amongst us who serve us.

Enjoy….m