Ho Hum
Well, that didn't take long. We are one week in on what appears to be several weeks of "lockdown", or as the Governor of Vermont calls it, "Stay Home/Stay Safe" and already real boredom seems to be setting in...for some of us.
Katherine came to me late yesterday expressing her irritation with having "nothing to do". It seems that she has read all her books, all the books from the library, AND all the books on Kindle Unlimited, which of course I find highly suspect. She asked (over and over and over) what she could do so each time I would offer some helpful ideas; go for a walk, help me clean up the gardens, empty the dishwasher, go to the taekwondo gym in the basement and do some kicking, write a letter, write a story...I went on and on but she didn't like ANY of my ideas. What she really wanted was more screen time.
Patrick has completed the school work that he could do without being in class (two projects that will be due later in the semester), cleaned his room to prepare for schooling from home, and even cleaned up some messes in the basement. When the weather has been nice he has gone for motorcycle rides, took a bicycle out today, and gets out to walk. He even "gets together" with some friends as they simultaneously watch a show on Netflix and chat about the show.
Life is pretty much "business as usual" for Joerg, who has been working from home for nearly two weeks.
The same can be said for me. I still do the shopping, fix the meals, and have household chores to do. There are some rental issues that require my attention, and my work for the Defender General's Office continues. Yet this weekend I notice that I am largely caught up on the little office projects that I had, and with school closed to any further "in-person instruction" for the rest of the year I don't have to teach music or help the kids prepare for a Spring Program or, sadly, for graduation. With my newfound free time, I have finished a few little projects that have collected dust on my to-do list.
Today's project was to clean out the "Maps Cabinet" in the office. This little cabinet was our dirty little secret; years worth of collected maps, guidebooks, route planners, and tourist brochures - many in duplicate or triplicate because...um...it was disorganized. The cabinet was so full and so disorderly that...well, picture the cartoonish closet that is filled floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall with stuff and when some unsuspecting character opens the door everything bursts out of the closet onto their head! This cabinet was like that only close the floor so while your head would be safe, your toes could be smooshed.
I sorted, piled, organized, recycled, pitched, and packed. I even found my university diploma! What we are left with is a much more organized cabinet (toes rejoice!) and a museum of sorts. As I was packing the newly sorted materials into bins, I realized that all these maps and guidebooks aren't really for unrealized vacations or trips that are currently being planned, they are souvenirs of places we have already been! All of those Lonely Planet books (the tower of blue in the middle) represent someplace we have visited. Maps, travel guides, tourist brochures, park maps...all of it represents someplace we have journeyed; dive trips, motorcycle adventures, hikes, city tours, domestic haunts, and foreign locales.
I suppose it's a bit ironic that I used today, a quiet day in the midst of medical sequestration, to organize and appreciate twenty years worth of travel guides and all the memories associated with NOT staying home, but I now have an organized cabinet AND a sense of real appreciation for the privilege of being able to GO places.
Katherine came to me late yesterday expressing her irritation with having "nothing to do". It seems that she has read all her books, all the books from the library, AND all the books on Kindle Unlimited, which of course I find highly suspect. She asked (over and over and over) what she could do so each time I would offer some helpful ideas; go for a walk, help me clean up the gardens, empty the dishwasher, go to the taekwondo gym in the basement and do some kicking, write a letter, write a story...I went on and on but she didn't like ANY of my ideas. What she really wanted was more screen time.
Patrick has completed the school work that he could do without being in class (two projects that will be due later in the semester), cleaned his room to prepare for schooling from home, and even cleaned up some messes in the basement. When the weather has been nice he has gone for motorcycle rides, took a bicycle out today, and gets out to walk. He even "gets together" with some friends as they simultaneously watch a show on Netflix and chat about the show.
Life is pretty much "business as usual" for Joerg, who has been working from home for nearly two weeks.
The same can be said for me. I still do the shopping, fix the meals, and have household chores to do. There are some rental issues that require my attention, and my work for the Defender General's Office continues. Yet this weekend I notice that I am largely caught up on the little office projects that I had, and with school closed to any further "in-person instruction" for the rest of the year I don't have to teach music or help the kids prepare for a Spring Program or, sadly, for graduation. With my newfound free time, I have finished a few little projects that have collected dust on my to-do list.
Today's project was to clean out the "Maps Cabinet" in the office. This little cabinet was our dirty little secret; years worth of collected maps, guidebooks, route planners, and tourist brochures - many in duplicate or triplicate because...um...it was disorganized. The cabinet was so full and so disorderly that...well, picture the cartoonish closet that is filled floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall with stuff and when some unsuspecting character opens the door everything bursts out of the closet onto their head! This cabinet was like that only close the floor so while your head would be safe, your toes could be smooshed.
I sorted, piled, organized, recycled, pitched, and packed. I even found my university diploma! What we are left with is a much more organized cabinet (toes rejoice!) and a museum of sorts. As I was packing the newly sorted materials into bins, I realized that all these maps and guidebooks aren't really for unrealized vacations or trips that are currently being planned, they are souvenirs of places we have already been! All of those Lonely Planet books (the tower of blue in the middle) represent someplace we have visited. Maps, travel guides, tourist brochures, park maps...all of it represents someplace we have journeyed; dive trips, motorcycle adventures, hikes, city tours, domestic haunts, and foreign locales.
I suppose it's a bit ironic that I used today, a quiet day in the midst of medical sequestration, to organize and appreciate twenty years worth of travel guides and all the memories associated with NOT staying home, but I now have an organized cabinet AND a sense of real appreciation for the privilege of being able to GO places.
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