Our neighbors, Phillip and Maggie, sent us a text last night about 6 saying, “Want to have a Cul De Sac Happy Hour?” What a great idea. We replied, “sure”. They said, “meet us in 10 minutes.”

We headed out front with our drinks. They came out with lawn chairs so we grabbed ours. Maggie invited Mollie from 2 doors down to come up too. We chatted and sat (at least 6 feet apart) until the sun set. It was nice to see neighbors and have a moments respite from the craziness.

Mollie is small business owner. This is incredibly challenging for her as she tries to do the right thing for her employees like keeping them on insurance (see our broken medical care system) while also trying to stay afloat personally and professionally. The impact that COVID-19 will have our society are extremely deep, wide and long. It is scary to contemplate it all. Which makes it a perfect storm for my anxiety. Which is why it was nice to spend a couple of hours with our neighbors sitting in lawn in the cul de sac on the first day Spring.

As for my anxiety – that is taking all of my skills to manage at the moment. The disruption of normal routines, the loss of our usual distractions (plays, dances, dining out) and the knowledge that this is going to get much worse before it gets better all add up to … I don’t know how to state it… perfect feedback loops for amplifying anxiety. I get anxious in situations that are “unknown” and this is full of unknowns. What helps my manage my anxiety is stability and “rituals”. All of the usual rituals have been blown up. Stability (economic, health, societal) all on in question. So, meditation, exercise, trying to build new normals that will help me get through are top of my day.

We have just been told that we will be working remote until mid-June (at least). I have 3 months of this new life. Time to find balance and wash my hands.

Stay well everyone.