Settling Into Self-Isolation of a Sort

Let me be sure to collect some recollections from last week before we get too far away from last week.

--A week ago, I'd have been almost sick with anxiety as I waited to see how the first day of synchronous distant classes would go.  I have been happily surprised.  There have been some glitches, but overall, classes seem to be going well.

--I should clarify--synchronous distant learning classes are going well.  I am less sure about the online classes.  For most of our students, the synchronous classes are their Program classes, and we usually have better attendance in those.

--I am still going to the office each day.  Fewer and fewer people are.  It reminds me of the nuclear war movie Testament, where at first, it looks like the tiny town hasn't been affected by the nuclear blast that was far away, but at the end of the movie, a careful viewer realizes how the town has been hollowed out.

--Of course, we expect to have a more normal kind of operations in May, so its nothing at all like the nuclear war movie Testament.

--On Monday, I made this Facebook post:  "There's a tree crew (I use the term crew loosely) cutting down every tree in the parking lot outside my office building. That's at least 5 full grown trees gone. I realize it's a small loss in the face of the bigger losses of the world, but it feels particularly grievous this week. Sigh."

--On Monday, I was stitching masks just to see if I could do it.  By the end of the week, I was stitching masks because new county rules required face coverings.

--On Thursday, I made this blog post: "I dropped a Tootsie Roll on the floor, and I asked, "Are we in the chapter of the apocalyptic novel where we need to wash the candy we've dropped on the floor?" We agreed that although that chapter may be coming, we are not there yet, because we have more candy, and the stores are still selling candy."

--Yesterday as we drove to church, I realized I felt so very tired, and I wondered why.  It hadn't been the kind of rigorous Holy Week we often have had.  But then I realized that it was almost as time consuming:  choir rehearsal and live streamed evening prayer on Monday, Maundy Thursday services on Thursday, and Easter, plus various online activities along the way.

--We had a fairly good Easter, although it was very unusual.  Of course, we don't have a usual Easter, so every Easter feels unusual in different ways.  For more, see this post on my theology blog.

--I have several favorite memories from yesterday.  One is the bunny bread that we made. 

But even more is the moment in the afternoon when my spouse came inside to tell me that he'd seen caterpillars on the milkweed.

--We had moved them from the front porch to the back yard.  We hadn't seen a caterpillar in days, so we assumed they were all lost.   And now we have 2.

One of them is a more intrepid explorer.  He keeps making his way to the neighboring pineapple plants.

--It was a better week overall than I was expecting.  And yet, just when I think I've settled into a new normal, something unsettling happens:  new job cuts, new requirements, new technology, new possibilities.  Some nights I sleep more soundly than others.

--Onward to week 2 of our Spring quarter.  Onward to week x of our physical distancing.