The Chronicles of 2020: Bagel Sandwiches
i·dle
/ˈīdl/
without purpose or effect; pointless.
By the end of March, it became evident that we would all be stuck in this Groundhog Day scenario for awhile. And if staying home was what we were being asked to do, we might as well start getting creative with our at-home activity options.
Right?
Unsurprisingly, my husband justified ordering an Xbox game system, following the lead of my brother in law. “That way, we could all play each other in some of the games.”
Ok sure.
It went against most fibers of my being; I’ve always said video games are a waste of time, specifically the ones that promote idleness. But alas, it was 2020, the most unusual year ever, and… what else did we have to do? Maybe, for once, longer times of being idle were what was called for in order to stay sane.
So, I re-taught my 32 year-old-self how to use a video game controller, and since then, my sister, brother in law, husband and I have logged many evenings on speaker phone, playing each other in a game similar to King Of The Hill. But with guns.
Remember that baby shower that I missed back in January? Well she was born healthy and on time, and I got to meet her over Facetime at the end of March. We joked about how I would meet her in person someday, when unnecessary domestic travel was less frowned upon. It was too bad, as I could have probably booked a roundtrip ticket to Denver for about $40 at that point.
Another habit that started in March? Bagel sandwiches.
We, like many others, agreed that we would be intentional about ordering in at least once per week, to continue to support our local restaurants. One Saturday, my husband had the brilliant idea of ordering in bagel sandwiches via DoorDash.
They were delicious of course, and it’s a trend that morphed into a weekly habit. Not great for the waistline but… whatever.
I found that it was becoming increasingly difficult to find jobs to apply for because well, we were in a Pandemic. And the economy was tanking. Aaaaaand millions and millions of others were in the same boat as me. Which in a way, was oddly comforting but also a bit terrifying.
One silver lining was that Mother Nature was showing Annapolis some grace, and the temperatures were starting to warm up. Chores like yard work and mowing suddenly became very appealing, as a productive excuse to be outside of our house walls.
On Monday March 30th, I found myself doing some yoga on our deck after a longer run.
My phone lit up as it made that loud, heart-sinking noise that it only makes when you’re being sent an emergency alert. A public safety notice, that we were under a Stay-At-Home Order, effective at 8pm that evening.
It didn’t change much from what so many of us were already doing, yet it still effectively managed to somehow rattle me.
