Our first Friday, the end of our first week. Spirits are high, but we’re not good at our attempt to test quarantine.

Today I had an over-lunch meeting. More of a learning session, before or during which time lunch should have been made for the kids. I had been in meetings all morning, as I suspect had been the wife. The older kid was with me, tending to her tablet, and the younger with the wife, I suspect doing the same.

As the meeting concluded, and iPad focus was lost, mayhem and proclamations of “nothing but cheeseburger” erupted from the kids. Once the older gets going, the younger chimes in, too. Add to this that the dogs felt it necessary to also get a little excited, and chaos erupted. It’s currently about 30F degrees outside, so no griling. Both parents had 1-ish things to do, and no other suggestions quelled the starvation. So we dashed for drive-through.

Yes, had this been an actual quarantine (or zombie outbreak) we would have perservered a little more. The kids and I have been sequestered to the house, yard, or boulevard all week; the wife made some shopping breaks yesterday.

Arguably, this resets my counter, and the older kiddo who went with me. Day one on the symptom watch, again. Still in the two-week window. We did practice safe social distancing, and have a lot of trust in the people still working in the wild, and food preparation safety (and virus-killing heat). We didn’t engage anyone except via the drive through window, at two-arms’ length, and touching only the packaging and cash together...

One thing I did notice is that it seemed like any other Friday mid-day dash. It was a little after noon lunch rush. Parking lots were filled at the Target and grocery stores I passed. The fast-food place we took our drive-up from shares parking with a health clinic, and both of those lots were full, like nothing had changed. The mall across the road seemed to have fewer cars, but I’m not sure what their mid-day traffic is. The roads even seemed to be reasonably normal. Are that many people not distancing, or are they not distancing as much as we’ve been trying to? Or maybe my jaunt fit into what others think distancing is, and they’re running their errands with just more space in their personal bubbles.

To keep the home quiet, we let the kids have an early screen-filled day; the older is plugged in again. The little one is currently napping. I’m done with scheduled meetings, and am out of tasks for the afternoon. We started early, so will probably call it a week. When the little wakes from his nap, we’ll take a promised walk with the dog. Still working on leash training the kids...I mean with the kids, so just to the end of the next block and back, middle of the street to keep the dog from sniffing or pooping on yards.

I’m not sure what will make tomorrow different though. I guess, no scheduled meetings? We’re on high alert for monitoring and such, so messaging and video still might happen. All of our normal weekend things have been canceled or would require crowds, so we’re going to avoid that. We do have some more cleaning to do, so maybe that will be our focus. The kids actually seem to get a kick out of moving all the boxes around. They’re young, and have never relocated, so what do they know?

The first weekend. Wow. Four days down, and about 16 to go until the end of spring break. Waiting to hear that schools will be closed longer. Expecting to have better practices, and more restrictions, or different news on the flattened curve.

In the latest, 115 Minnesota cases reported. I still think this number will rocket as tests happen and people realize their symptoms push that. I’m also hopeful that the distancing works, or that everyone is just wrong about the virus... I’m all for caution, and with the support of the companies and government, we’re participating. As much because the kids have no where to go, as for the care and avoidance of the virus. Still wrapping our heads around all of this.

Everyone’s healthy. Just a feeling a little penned in.