I am really missing be able to hang out with my friends and I… actually miss school!

He said

There isn’t a lot to share this week as not a lot has really changed. I mean a lot has changed with this COVID-19 virus on the daily but we’re still quarantined and doing our best to stay home and avoid going out into public spaces – unless absolutely necessary. Even though it’s been two weeks, it feels like it has been six with the amount of adjustment it has forced everyone into. It is the longest time I have been away from work outside of training trips that I was on. It for sure blows away any vacation time we’ve taken from work in one stint. It definitely is strange and uncharted times we’re in.

I guess the one thing I didn’t share was that ahead of the world basically closing down, Dad – who was still battling issues with the synthetic vein bypass in his leg – had gone to the hospital again to get it checked out as it looked like infection was back. He went in and an hour later they checked him as they were concerned with the infection again. Shortly after getting checked the world started to close down and quarantine. We were able to get in a couple visits and run over some supplies for him but then the hospital basically went into lockdown.

It was a strange place having your Dad locked down in a hospital – knowing he’s in the best hands – but not being able to be there with him and visit. Our biggest fear was he might contract the virus being a place where others were going to get help and possibly having it. Thankfully with Group FaceTime the family were able to maintain some form of connection together and with Dad during his time. In the end the decision was made to remove the tube as he had nothing but problems ever since it went in. Friday last week he had that surgery and while there was some delay in getting a response as to how it went, eventually a message I had sent showed as Read and relief went into our worlds.

He spent a week in the hospital recovering and by Friday morning he was given his walking papers. He was happy to get home and to be able to get some real sleep in his own bed. Mom was of course happy to have him home after two weeks held up in the hospital. And we were happy to finally have him out of the hospital and away from heightened chance of contracting COVID-19. I picked him up, dropped him off and got him situated at home. And he got what I think was his first good rest in over a couple of weeks.

And with that we had a little more semblance of normal in our lives. Saturday was the first day since we closed the store where I got away from doing anything work related and focused on just spending time with Danielle & Emelia. We’re all feeling a lot squirrelly and having the day to not focus on anything but just being us was much needed and felt really good. For the foreseeable future we have more of the same ahead, but the hope is in these next two weeks we really start to see and feel the positive effects of the quarantine and it will feel like we’re headed in the right direction and there is a return to normalcy in our futures. That’s all we can hope for.

She said

We are in the second week of personal distancing to control the spread of COVID-19. Each day there are updates on the number of cases in Canada and around the world. The whole pandemic has been life changing, everyone is on edge and the life we have known has changed. Emelia is on her second week of being away from friends, most family and school. There is no real end in sight and it hasn’t been easy on her. She misses her friends, she misses freedom and she even misses school. We need some sort of normal soon to give her a sense that life can be normalized under the current new normal.

This week we started navigating even more restrictions on gatherings, changes in practices in stores and more businesses closing until the worst passes. We have no idea when this will pass, some experts are saying we are not in for just weeks of this but perhaps months. With the growing concerns, restrictions and personal distancing measures I had to make the painful and frightening deicsion to close my business for the foreseeable future. It was far too important for the health of the children, their families, and our families to keep the daycare open.

Thankfully I was finally in the position that all the daycare families could make arrangements to have their children at home. This wasn’t a decision I took lightly—the loss of income was downright terrifying. I sent the letters to all the families this week and everyone who was still in care was so incredibly supportive and understanding. I am so lucky to have some amazing and loyal families in care. What made the decision more viable was the announcement of the government that there was going to be economic support for those who normally would not qualify for unemployment insurance. Now this will still be a huge hit to our family finances but with other measures that the banks have offered to help support families in these difficult times has at least given us some sort of peace of mind we will be safe enough.

What this has meant that I have been on the phone every day trying to call banks about our loans to see what we can do for some support to help us get through until I am able to work again. Not going to lie, there have been lots of sleepless nights, lots of worry and stress. It doesn’t mean that we are without stress, money will be tight but we aren’t able to leave the house other than to get food so we aren’t really spending money right now. As we navigate the next few weeks and months we are trying to see the good in this, we have been having family dinners again, family movies every night and spending a lot of time going for family walks. We will get through this but I am hoping we will remember the good times in the middle of the stress we are living in right now.