Back to School…or not…

We are on day 175 of 15 days to slow the spread.

It was perhaps one of the greatest challenges in our nearly 34 years of marriage. Well, other than the time we tried to rearrange the furniture in our two-bedroom apartment.

After weeks of webinars and trainings and more stress than you can shake a stick at, cast a spell over, or auction on eBay, Chesterfield County schools opened online yesterday.

Until they didn’t.

Early yesterday morning teachers across the county, along with some 60,000 students tried to log in to virtual learning, but the system crashed.

So, being the compassionate and understanding husband that I am, I wanted to be supportive and understanding.

I also wanted to go into the other room and laugh hysterically.

Of course it crashed. Not only were they asking the system to do more work with more people than in the history of the Innerwebz, but it’s 2020 after all.

By mid-day, most of the system was up and running and we were back at normal stress levels.

Then again, there’s nothing normal about stress levels in 2020.

And no, it really wasn’t funny.

I suspect that somewhere in the world of school administration at least one person asked yesterday “how

Available in The Write Side Shop (click the pic).

long do we have to do this?”

I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty much done with the whole pandemic thing.

At the same time, I will admit that I’ve settled into a routine.

I’m up between 5:00 and 6:00 every day. Some days by choice. Most days because my back just can’t stay in bed any longer.

I do my reading in The Daily Bible. I’m reading all the way through chronologically this year. I just got to Job, or roughly 2020.

Then I usually head to the gym and come home and get on with the day.

I have to admit that this is comfortable.

But, even as an introvert, I miss people.

I miss theater, and amusement parks, and restaurants, and more.

And I hate wearing a mask.

Hate, hate, hate it. But I wear it. Not because I believe in the efficiency of masks. I will admit to being skeptical. But I wear it to make you comfortable.

Yesterday I was in Wawa behind a woman, I’d call her Karen but my friends named Karen are a little offended by that. Still, by just that reference, you know what I mean.

She was checking out and asked the clerk, “I thought you were supposed to wear masks. That guy in front of me wasn’t wearing a mask.”

The clerk rather nervously explained that while masks were required, they couldn’t ask because someone might have a medical issue.

There was no sign that the young man in question had a medical issue. True, you never know.

But, Ka…I mean this lady, was holding up the line. There were at least six people behind me.

None of us really cared that the guy who was already back in his vehicle was not wearing a mask.

Where am I going with this?

We’re all stressed. We’re all frazzled.

Be a little, or a lot, nicer to people.

When the internet crashes on the first day of school, be willing to open the wine. At the end of the day, of course.

When someone isn’t wearing a mask, don’t call them out. You have no idea what’s going on.

And don’t get me started about social media. The unfollow and snooze buttons are your friends.

Things are tough all over. We need to take better care of each other.

As much as we’d all like things to change, this isn’t going to be over any time soon.

There will be more internet crashes.

There will be more Ka….er…ladies who feel called to be the mask police.

We can’t fix them or control them. But we can control our reactions.

Bit by bit. One by one.

That’s how we get out of this.

Is it Friday yet?



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