27 March 2020, 2:19 pm - In Which I Find Community

Today I woke up to my partner informing me about who has COVID-19 today, what counties now have confirmed cases, and that we need to think about rationing our favorite foods since the stores are having trouble restocking. I have one week until my oral defense (via Zoom), so the dour news at the start of my day did not exactly set the tone for productivity. Now, as I sit here writing, my partner is obsessively cleaning the house. He is doing so more because of the amount of cat hair that has found its way into all the nooks and crannies as our cats shed their winter coats, and less so because of a fear of the virus. Although, we have seen posts on our respective social media feeds of people cleaning their houses nearly every hour they are home out of fear. The panic is real today.

Now I will list some positive things to uplift myself:

-I chatted with a friend for an hour via Zoom today, partly to interview her for an assignment and also because I miss our social interactions. She only lives a couple blocks away from us. We’re planning virtual happy hours.

-Our local bakery and cheese shop expanded its items to become a grocery store, and allowed us to order a 5lb bag of flour from them via text.

-A friend dropped off some fresh roasted coffee beans from her coffee shop (which is unfortunately closed at the moment).

-Our local farmer’s market is making CSA-style food boxes with homemade and home grown goodness from local vendors, since the market cannot open right now. These boxes will be sent to the elderly, at-risk, and low-income households in our town.

-A local distillery, which has not even had its official grand opening, changed course and is now creating hand sanitizer products for our healthcare workers - and eventually the general population.

-Flowers were delivered to my mom in Colorado for her birthday thanks to the ability to order from afar.

What I realize from this list is that I am truly lucky to live where I do. My partner and I survive on his income and my meager earnings from social media management for the local museum. Our town strives to be self-sustaining and has employed the “small town” mentality of always helping our neighbors out, except now we do it from afar and with necessary precautions. We are lucky to still have work and enough supplies to support ourselves and our three cats.