Weekly Review March 13 '20

Well, what to say about this week? I'd say it was a fairly normal, pretty uneventful week until yesterday. So let's talk about the normal stuff first. Besides the ordinary stuff, we had a few other things going on.

Friday the 6th we had the Deacons Quorum over in the evening to play games. There's only 4 active Deacons (including Seth), and one didn't come so it wasn't a big gathering or anything. They watched some Studio C and played some Mario Kart and some bowling. They seemed to have a fun time.

On Saturday the 7th, I got my hair done in the morning. The lady who has been cutting my hair for the last several years told me that she is retiring next month because she's having a lot of trouble with her hands. I was really sorry to hear that--she does a good job and she's a nice person to talk to, also. So the next time I get my hair done will be the last time she does my hair. She is going to connect me with one of the other stylists who she says is good. I hope so! It's always great to find someone who understands how your hair works and knows how to make it look good. That evening, one of my friends was having an Open House for her daughter, who got married last month and she asked me if I could help keep the refreshment table stocked. I was happy to do that--especially because she was one of the friends who helped so much with Tanner's open house last summer. It was an easy job and I got to visit with a lot of people too, so it was fun. Frank didn't go to the open house because he still wasn't feeling great--his cough was still bothering him quite a bit at that point. (He seems to be doing quite a bit better now. He's still coughing some, but not a lot.)

Sunday the 8th was fast Sunday for us, since we had stake conference the week before. I ended up going to the 14 & 15 year old YW class because the advisor wasn't there that day and so the counselor needed another adult in there with her. It was kind of fun for a change to go to YW. Frank made it to church for the first time in a couple of weeks but that evening he had a meeting for his new calling that he ended up not attending because he was coughing so much and feeling worn out. I've been reading a book about BFJ's family and I read about his mom and she was such an amazing woman! I mean, I already knew that, but the more I learn about her the more impressed I am. I feel really grateful to have the ancestors I have. I'm sure their lives have influenced my life far more than I can even comprehend, but just the part that I can comprehend is pretty overwhelming.

I had a dentist appointment on Monday the 9th and this time neither I nor they had to cancel it. It was just my bi-annual cleaning, and my teeth look great, thankfully. My tooth that I had to get a crown for last summer still bothers me a bit--mostly when I eat cold things, although sometimes I can eat cold things without any pain. So I mentioned that, but the hygienist said it could be sensitive for a long time after getting a crown. She said I should definitely keep them informed if it gets worse or if it's still bothering me in a few more months.

On Tuesday the 10th I went and got fingerprinted so that I will be able to volunteer at Seth's school. It takes a few weeks for them to process that and do a background check, but after that I should be good to go. (Assuming there will be school...I hope!)  That evening one of my ministering sisters came to visit me and I enjoyed that.

Seth had a counseling appointment right after school on Wednesday the 11th. He was glad that he didn't have to miss any school for that, and it was interesting because his counselor got to see him for the first time when he is not medicated. (Seth's medication is wearing off right about that time of day.)  He definitely noticed a difference! I also got to talk to Tanner for a long time on Wednesday; it was nice to get caught up with him!

So that brings us to Thursday the 12th, the day that everything went a little crazy! Actually, the day started out pretty normal. I had my shift at the tax preparation place, although we started an hour later than normal because the room we use was needed for something else that morning. That gave me time to get the laundry further along and to vacuum the house before I had to go in. I also went to the store and got some donuts, because one of the girls in my Primary activity group is having a birthday today and we usually get a treat to share at the activity right before someone's birthday. While I was getting donuts for that, I decided to get another dozen to take to share with everybody at the tax place. It turns out it wasn't the best day to bring donuts--one of the volunteers was out of town and another one was sick--so we didn't have a lot of people there. But those who were there did enjoy the donuts, and about half of them were gone before I left. Thankfully, the site coordinator knew we were going to have fewer people ahead of time, so she had scheduled fewer appointments so we weren't overwhelmed with stuff to do. I did keep fairly busy the whole time I was there--I prepared 2 tax returns and reviewed another one. After I got home and ate lunch, I started pulling out clothes to pack for Seth and I because we were planning to go to the temple today, and needed to leave right after school today. (We were planning to spend the night in Philadelphia--Frank would attend an endowment session Friday evening and then I would attend a session Saturday morning while Seth did baptisms and Frank helped with baptisms.) But right in the middle of that, I got a phone call from Frank, who had just checked his email and there was an email letting us know that the Philadelphia Temple had just been closed and so our ward temple trip had been cancelled. I was super bummed about that, because I was really looking forward to this temple trip! Opportunities to go to the temple have been really scarce for us the last 2 years and I miss being able to go regularly so much. This is the first time we were going to all be able to go together as a family, so it was a big disappointment. I did know it was a slight possibility that they would close the temple since others have been closed already because of the Coronavirus, but I was hoping it wouldn't happen so soon. BUT if I am disappointed, I can't imagine how much worse it must be for anyone who was planning to get married or receive their own endowment! So I can't complain too much. Frank called the hotel we were supposed to stay at and thankfully they are not going to charge us for our room--I'm grateful for that! Anyway, that first email was just the beginning of a whole bunch of similar emails. Within a few more hours, we got an email letting us know that the governor of Maryland had decided that all the public schools in the state needed to be closed for two weeks (starting Monday--there is school today). Then I got an email from the tax place saying they are closing until March 31st. And then right as Seth and I were about to walk out the door to go to Primary and YM activities, we got the email letting us know that the church has cancelled all meetings and activities worldwide until further notice. So we didn't go after all. Well!! It all seems kind of crazy although I knew there was a possibility that something like this would happen. I am not overly concerned about the Coronavirus itself--I doubt I will get it and even if I do I doubt it will kill me--but I am concerned about people who are more vulnerable and I am also concerned about the economic impact this is going to have on the nation as a whole. I'm not thrilled that I won't be able to go to church for who knows how long, although of course it's awesome that we are all prepared for home-based church! I think right now I am feeling unsettled because I'm wondering exactly how things are going to go for the next few weeks. I still have things to do--the house still needs to be cleaned, we still need to eat, the laundry still needs to be done--but all of my other responsibilities like church callings and volunteer work and taking Seth to school and back are temporarily suspended. So I imagine I will have more free time than usual and I'm trying to think what would be the best way to spend that time. I really don't want to waste it!! I have projects to work on, of course, and I can certainly work on those. Seth will also have at least some school work to do at home (I don't know much of the details about that yet) so I'm sure I'll have to be helping him with that. But I really want to try to keep him busy with things besides video games and television. And as I said--I want to feel like I'm doing something worthwhile myself. There's a part of me that's really tempted to buy plane tickets for me and Seth and fly out to Utah for a visit!! But I can think of a lot of practical reasons why that's not a good idea.

So that brings us to today, which is a pretty normal day but will be the last normal day we'll have for a while. Seth is at school and will be bringing home a lot of stuff, I imagine, when I go to pick him up. So far today I have exercised and showered and gone through the mail and written this post and talked to Scott a couple of times. He is busy today moving his computer and other stuff from work to his home because they are allowing them to work from home for a while. Tanner and Jared both report that they will be doing their classes online for the rest of the semester (as most of you have probably already heard). I still need to pay bills and update the budget this afternoon.

I didn't get anything done on projects this week. I have been doing a lot of reading--I'm trying to finish a book that I've been reading called Midnight's Children. It's interesting, but it's also a really strange book and I hope I'm not going to get to the end of it and wonder "what was the point of that?!" It's actually due today and when I went online to try to renew it I couldn't renew it because it has holds on it. So I will have to finish it today if I want to avoid paying a fine. I have about 100 pages to go, so I'm not sure I'll manage it. But I should be able to finish it tomorrow if I don't finish it today.

In my random Facebook scrolling this week I have been really quite disturbed by a lot of posts and comments about the whole BYU honor code thing. The two things that have disturbed me the most are first, the amount of arguing going on and how rude people are to each other and second, how many church members out there seem to be totally confused about really basic fundamental truths like the plan of salvation. I could go on and on about this, but I will be merciful and spare you!! I'll just say that my worrying and anxiety and pondering and prayers over this led me to reading again the proclamation on the family as well as President Hinckley's entire talk when he presented the proclamation. It was beautiful and I cried tears of gratitude that he and the other leaders of the church at that time were led by the spirit to write that sacred proclamation which is so clearly needed in our world today. They couldn't have guessed 25 years ago how much we would need it now! It was clearly inspired.

And on that note, I will end this post. I have a lot of reading to do! :)