DAY 2

I opened my eyes at 8:30am this morning, having slept for a full 8 hours, a rare occurrence. My first thought was a positive one, acknowledging the deep benefits of sleep and how during this closure I will likely be getting enough. And I noticed my throat felt fine, as did my temperature. Of course, now every little tingle, twinge, itch, burn, or cough sends tiny alarm thoughts whirling - is today the day I get sick? Is today the day when I won't leave my house for two weeks?

Feeling good, D (the man I live with and love deeply) and I got dressed and ran up and down our neighborhood set of 258 stairs for a solid 30 minutes. I don't normally exercise so early in the morning, accompanied by birdsong, stillness. A delightful change. Afterwards, we ate buckwheat waffles, drank matcha tea, discussed our upcoming day. Like everything was normal. Except it was Tuesday and I wasn't at school.

I picked up some board games from a neighborhood friend, in preparation for the imminent arrival of D's children (7 and 13, boy and girl) for 5 days, and also started to create a daily schedule for them (and me) that will include silent reading, bike rides, trying new recipes. I'm more than slightly nervous about keeping us stimulated, creative.

Next, more World Map reading (196,640 total cases by 3pm with 7,893 deaths), state updates, national updates, and the alarming discovery that my 80 year old father was still seeing tax clients, personally meeting with them in his office. I have a history of staying calm with my parents and respecting their decisions but this particular case upended that - I was furious. My father, however, is stubborn and clearly in denial. He simply believes he will "just finish out the tax year and be done on April 15."

Is it shocking and distasteful that I asked him where his will is located???

After saying goodbye I noticed my energy level was very high -- so I got dressed, completely decimated a raised bed of weeds with a shovel and lots of digging, scrubbed the grime off the never been cleaned BBQ, then hopped on my road bike and rode north to Kenmore, down to Kirkland, across the 520 bridge and back home to Lake City.  Two hours later, drenched in sunshine and water views, fast descents and strong, slow ascents I felt better.