March

After writing almost every day for a month in 2019, I pretty much let the blog get dusty during 2020, a crazy year in which I have spent all day, every day, with my kids, supervising their schooling while working full-time at a teaching job in which they doubled my teaching load and decreased my pay. All while trying to keep from getting sick, because if I did, who would do my job and take care of my kids? It was a tiring year.

Here we are in March again, the month everything changed. This time last year, I was completely oblivious to the Coronavirus. I mean, I knew what it was, I read the news every morning that was coming out of China and Italy. There was a small, worrisome voice in the back of my head that knew it might become something, after all, there was no more hand sanitizer at the store. But I didn’t think it would derail our lives for a year or more. We had no idea what was coming.

This time last year I was caught up in the presidential primary. Exactly one year ago, on Tuesday, March 3rd (I know it’s only March 2nd today, but it’s a Tuesday), it was Super Tuesday. I wondered who was going to pull ahead in the Democratic Primary. I had plans to meet a coworker for lunch (it would be my last meal in a restaurant) and a busy day which involved taking my kids to their after-school activities and to the library. As usual, we would be home late, just in time for dinner and homework.

While I was at the library I hopped on my laptop and emailed Darin, asking him if we should think about canceling our annual trip to Legoland, which we’d booked for March 15th. I was a little worried about the crowds.