The Waiting Walk

Thanks to the Coronavirus, or COVID-19, life just got really, really different. Surreal is my word of the week.

One week ago today the announcement was made that schools in Oregon would close until April 1st. We saw our students that day, told them to take home certain textbooks and a few other things, and then spent the weekend preparing one week’s worth of online classes – spring break would be after that. By Wednesday, the closure had extended to the end of April. Now we are looking at a whole month plus this last week of online classes. Wow. That’s a lot for a teacher to take in. That’s a lot for the parents to take in. And I’m both!

It has been surreal to hear the news of this spreading virus, first in China, then a few other places, then Washington state (our next door neighbor), and now nearly every state and country around the world has been affected. At first it was no big deal – no worse than the flu. Then it began to look more serious. Now things have been closing down, tighter and tighter. Church is closed, schools are closed, small businesses are closing, restaurants are takeout only, and all meetings everywhere have been cancelled or moved online. Toilet paper has been a hoarded item. So strange, so fascinating, so concerning, the way society reacts from fear.

I am so exhausted from this week of suddenly living online (and I do spend a lot of time on my computer already but this was a whole new level) and trying to help fourth and fifth graders navigate a system we had used sporadically in the classroom, but now need to use 100% of the time. It’s been “fun.” They don’t really read the directions. I’ve copied and pasted, “Please read the directions. Go back and read them aloud slowly, then do what it says,” about 300 times. But I took this week as a learning week. A week for grace. For patience. For laughing instead of crying.

With so much unknown, with so much uncertainty, I choose to focus on the constants and the blessings. My favorite part of this week has been that the sun has been shining every single day. If you know anything about Portland, you know that is a luxury for this time of year. And since I wasn’t necessarily stuck in the classroom, I took the computer outside for a bit, laid in the grass, and soaked up the sun.

What will this next month look like for us? Will this informal quarantine be made official? Will it be longer than a month? What is in store? Well, today, I choose to not worry about that. Today I choose to look at the blessings in front of me and be thankful for what I have. I will wait on God. I will walk with Him. Maybe I’ll bake a cake with the kids while I wait. A “life-upside down” cake.

Quarantine and doing school and work from home survival tips will be sought out and implemented next week!