My final Gymnastics competition is cancelled/postponed!
He said
As if there wasn’t stuff already making this year a memorable one, along came the Covid-19 virus. It first grew out of control in China and has made it’s way through Europe and now North America thanks to international travel. As it hits closer to home, we’ve seen all sorts of changes in public behaviour as well as mandated changes by health organizations to help mitigate the spread. What start with countries across the globe, quarantining, started to feel like it was going to hit a lot closer to home. And it wasn’t long until it did. Like this week even.
The first culprit to hit home for us was Emelia’s final competition of the season (and her career). Danielle had been stalking the Gymnastics Ontario web site all week waiting for any type of news to post. The NBA season had been postponed, then NHL and MLB all early in the week. We figured it was only a matter of time. Slowly was the week wore on we knew it was only a matter of time. Friday we had word and it was better than we hoped because it wasn’t 100% cancelled—for now it was just postponed. We will cling to the hope that the virus spread will get under control and she will still be able to have her final competition of her career at some point.
But something I didn’t expect was an announcement that came in the wee hours Friday night. Working in retail I expected at some point that there might come a decision to close down the mall in lieu of protecting people from non essential traffic, but it seemed less likely as time wore on. One of things that I am proudest of working at Apple is that we make the decision when it is right and no matter what it might mean to the bottom line. And in the wee hours Friday night Tim Cook announced that we would be closing all of our stores, all over the world with the exception of Great China where the virus was now under control. So, until the 28th I will be spending the time at home self quarantining because that is the right thing to do.
So, the next two weeks will be about spending even more time with those who matter most to me. And to getting things done. And to protecting what matters most. And to thinking about what’s to come and how we make it there by doing the things that are right to do when we need to – no matter the cost or effort.
And how proud I am to be part of this journey!
She said
When we thought life could not be more interesting along comes a worldwide pandemic. I have been watching the news over the last few weeks as this progressed, areas of the world have been under limited movement, self isolations or full quarantine. It has been frightening to say the least. At first it seemed like media hype but more and more the medical community was warning people of its seriousness and finally the WHO (World Heath Organization) declared it a world wide pandemic. This is uncharted territory, I have been trying to keep Emelia’s mind at ease while pressing to her that we need to follow the recommendations of the doctors and scientists. Lots of hand washing, lots of of extra cleaning and social restrictions. Life as we have always known it has changed pretty well overnight.
What happened in the country and across North America was total panic, full on stockpiling, full sellsouts of things like toilet paper, bread, pasta, frozen veggies, meat, dairy have all been cleared off the shelves. Friday morning when the collective shit had hit the fan I was talking to one of my clients and he said his wife was at the grocery stores for over 5 hours, lines were crazy. I turned to John and said I needed to go right away to get supplies from the store. I asked if he could watch the kids and I would run to the store, the one store I went to is normally never busy so when I got there it was a bit busier but at least had most of the essentials. I texted him and said I would be a bit longer and as quickly as I could I got the necessities for our family of three plus the daycare kids for the next week or so to make sure we were taken care of. That night I went out and got some more frozen meat and meals that will hopefully sustain us for the next little while.
In the middle of all this mess John’s dad was admitted back to the hospital steaming from more complications from his surgery over a year ago. We had lots of trips back and forth getting things settled for him and assure that Helen had what she needed. ;We are living day to day not sure what the next days announcements will be, where the next closures will be, so far all schools, sports, libraries, community centres, March Break camps, large daycare centres, some retail stores (including John’s work) have all been shut down, its only a matter of time that we see more closures. Life is pretty strange these days.