Social Distancing

I've hesitated the last few days to put anything on Social Media sharing that we are in Arizona. I don't know if we made the right decision, but after all the medical issues my family has had over the past year, we just needed to be together. So yes, we are in Arizona. Did we fly? Absolutely not! Back in December, when Laura decided NOT to come home for Christmas, and while mom was still in the early stages of recovering from her Mitral Valve replacement, I decided that I was taking the girls to Arizona for Spring Break. A few weeks later Mitch was told he needed to go to Europe for a few weeks in March. It was perfect we would be gone the same time. Enter Covid-19...so we booked Mitch a last minute flight to join us in Arizona. But the week before our trip, as things begin to get cancelled and we started to hear the word quarantine I knew I would never be comfortable getting on a plane, or sitting in an airport. Before the end of the school week the NHL, NBA, MLB, MLS, PGA had all cancelled their games/events for the foreseeable future. IHSA and NCAA cancelled all spring sports seasons and colleges were making announcements to shut down and move to online learning for the remainder of the semester.

So once state swim was cancelled we decided to drive. It's not ideal. It's a 24 hour drive, but with two of us we knew we could handle it. We packed a cooler so we could eat meals/snacks in the car and we hit the road. We only had to stop 4 times and were equipped with our Chlorox wipes and hand sanitizer. We left Mt. Zion around 8am on Saturday and arrived in Tucson at 5am. Mitch and I made a great team taking turns throughout the night. We'll most likely do the same thing on the way home.

Once we got here things began to change very quickly. At first we were told no more than 50 people together in a gathering. The CDC quickly changed their recommendation to no more than 10 people. Illinois Governor closed down all restaurants and bars. Arizona followed suit the very next day. By Tuesday Kansas had cancelled public school for the remainder of the semester. And on Wednesday New Mexico closed all restaurants. bars, gyms, salons, spas, resorts to business. The United States Hospital System is not equipped to handle a massive outbreak if people don't follow social distancing directives.

Even after arriving in Tucson we have practiced social distancing. We are fortunate that we can go back and forth between Gigi's house and Aunt Laura's and that we have a pool. Yesterday we took a long walk and the highlight was seeing two gentlemen on horseback. Gigi made cookies for the girls and last night we all watched a movie together. When we got home to Gigi and Papa's yesterday we saw a rainbow. The girls and I talked about how it's a reminder of God's promise. We're making the best of these crazy times. And trusting that in time, it will all be okay.