April 28th, 2020
A photo in my work studio of me, my wife and our daughter.
My landscape architecture studio was planning how we were going to finish our mid-term project over spring break when UNM president Garnett S. Stokes announced that school would close for at least two additional weeks.
At this point, my daughter’s day care had already closed and the gym where my wife works was talking about closing as well. For us, this meant that, suddenly, all three of us would be home all day, every day and only one of us would b able to work.
We were initially worried about everything, making the rent, keeping our daughter stimulated all day and the shortages at the grocery stores. The moment it really set in was when, at a grocery store, I saw a man loading groceries and the actual shopping cart into the back of his SUV. Seeing that, on top of the news stories hyping up the panic and hoarding, I knew this was going to be a hard few months, or maybe the end of the world.
The future remains to be seen, but for now this has all been a much needed moment of self-organization and reflection. Not at all any sort of vacation; I don’t think I’ve ever had to work harder (with more anxiety) in my life than I am right now, and I’ve been fortunate to have understanding landlords, consistent work and a wife who’s a diligent mother. I’ve been able to continue my education and work enough to keep everything paid.
It’s been a challenge to change so much, so fast with no clear schedule or prediction about the world we’ll be reentering, but that’s the sort of challenge that I needed to clarify my character and priorities.
This whole situation is, in the current cliché, uncertain. But, if there was a button to make it all go back to normal, I don’t think I would press it, yet. The lessons coming from this are invaluable and life is to short for normal.
