Will Monroe

I went inside of a grocery store for the first time in about 45 days. I arrived with all of my Corona virus supplies: a small JanSport fanny pack filled with hand sanitizer, anti-bacterial wipes, mask, credit cards, keys, and my wireless earbuds. we all went together in the family car and upon arrival saw a line that stretched past several of the adjacent stores. The line looked very long at first. Upon closer inspection, we realized that every shopper in line was spaced about six feet apart outside of the store. Each of them were guided by orange tape providing a convenient stopping point as the line progressed towards the door. As we waited we were all provided chilled bottles of water and sun shades. It was all very humane. And and very well thought out.

So many things occurred to me during this first shopping trip. One of them was how I failed to read directions. The sign provided clear direction on what to do as you approach the cashier to pay for your groceries. For some reason I failed to look beneath my feet, I never remember these directions, and I commented about how much there was to learn about the "unwritten rules" of shopping during the pandemic even as I failed to notice the plainly written ones for everyone outside.

My old doll house my dad made for me makes a fine garage for E’s cars.

Our backyard and patio are seeing a lot of activity these days. So is this play pen I picked up for I.. E. enjoys playing in it, too. He especially likes to put pillows and blankets in there and tuck in himself and his sister to “go night night”. It’s kind of funny because he’s been waking us up every morning around 3 am. I wish his enthusiasm for sleeping would show itself around that time instead. Zzzzzz...

E. invited a friend for lunch. I found him quite dull, but the kids seemed to enjoy his company.

For a little more than 2 weeks now we've been waking up and walking out the door at 9:00 a.m. to head to a local park to play in the large soccer fields. Today we took a long walk through the neighborhoods going down the streets we haven't haunted yet admiring the thick stands of bamboo trees and other gardening projects that have all become far more beautiful in recent weeks. And instead of spending time in the park allowing E to run free we headed home to our freshly mowed yard and ran around in circles instead.

Today was LSU's first day of classes for the main campus after the one week pause and spring break. I'd been hoping to slide right in to a little work on my one undergraduate class but things went different differently rather quickly this morning. Oh well. Both K typing out and I are learning how to work at odd times during the day and during the evenings as well. Looks like tonight will be one of those nights.

This morning we woke up to the news that the federal guidelines for social distancing would be extended through the month of April. The Louisiana governor issued stay-at-home orders that extended through the month of April also. As K pointed out during dinner, one of the positive aspects of this forced intimacy is that our daughter, I, gets to spend much more time than her brother did at his age with her daddy. I'm actually spending more time with both my kids and with K now than I did before.

Cornbread is never a bad idea. We had a respectable black bean stew atop some white basmati rice that I bought in bulk and a simple cornbread in our cast iron skillet for dinner.

K's oldest brother scheduled a zoom video conference call with K's parents, her brother and his husband, and us today at 5:00 p.m. E was shy for the camera again just as he had been on the video conference call to my parents and with K's mom a few days ago. He is not often a shy one so it comes as a bit of a surprise. But both K and I think he's processing the changes that have meant that he is no longer able to meet with his grandparents (and that K's parents had to leave so suddenly). I don't think it's a stretch to call that shyness a form of grief.

But the visit overall was great. Everyone was in high spirits and everyone enjoyed playing with the different features of the video conference application and generally just seeing each other's faces and hearing each other's voices.

As is our custom these days, we walked to the park close to our house at around 9:00 a.m. When we go on these walks we always pack along the necessities for a 2-year-old and a 9-month-old: a few small boxes of raisins, a plastic pouch of applesauce, some nuts, water for everyone, and today a smoothie that K didn't like very much. All of these provisions fit nicely in the drink holders and pockets of our double stroller.

Unlike other days, we stopped at a closer destination than the soccer fields that we usually visit. There are several open fields even closer to us located next to abandoned shuffleboard decks and numerous tennis courts. These spaces never seem to have any visitors except us. What thrilled E this morning were the clusters of small purple three-petaled flowers, each of them containing dozens of plants. He picked as many as he could and we brought them home and placed them in this tiny vase that K found.

The remote work orders for LSU began on Tuesday, March 17th but by that date, I had already been self-isolating since the day before due to news we received that a child in E's daycare was being tested for COVID-19. We have eaten every meal--breakfast, lunch, and dinner--together at this table since that date.