Worthington BLOG: Coronavirus Self Quarantine Week 3

By Rick Worthington
4/3/20

It’s no longer a “Self Quarantine!”

Just to recap – my family and I began to “self quarantine” on March 13th. Today is April 3rd, and so much has happened in the last 3 weeks.

I’ll start with some personal stuff. (also something I mentioned last week) My wife had surgery last Wednesday to take a tumor off of her liver. It was something we knew she was going to have done, but after St. Luke’s canceled all non-essential procedures we were just not sure when it would happen. They actually moved the date up! I dropped her off at the front door, and since I was not allowed to go in with her, a nurse had to call me to tell me when I could pick her up. I don’t mind telling you, it was not a very fun afternoon for either of us.

The good news is, she is doing well after surgery. She is defiantly sore, but recovering. I’m very happy to have her home where I can keep an eye on her. It seems the hardest part is keeping our little girls from bumping her or hitting the spot that hurts.

The reality of life at home with a spouse who needs my help more than she is willing to admit, an 18 year old son who needs help, but refuses to ask for it or accept it — and two little girls who require constant supervision is this: I’ve got plenty to do to keep myself occupied. Work alone over this last 3 weeks has been pretty crazy, and enough to keep me busy.

EARTHQUAKE:
We were sitting down to dinner when the quake happened on Tuesday, March 31st. I made Teriyaki Chicken and Rice. I never got eat dinner that evening, as I jumped into “News Rick Mode” pretty quickly.

The girls were with Kristen and I, and when the table started to shake I think we all thought it was something besides Earthquake. A major street runs behind our home, and when construction has gone on near us, we sometimes do feel a little rumble. It quickly became clear, this was a BIG earthquake.

I lived in Northern California. We know about earthquakes in California the way people in Oklahoma know about Tornadoes, or folks in Florida know about Hurricanes. The difference is, you have some heads up on Hurricanes and while there is certainly less warning on Tornadoes, hey they do have an entire “tornado season” on the calendar. You never know when a earthquake will happen. It’s always a complete surprise – ALWAYS.

New Stuff:
I’ve heard the coronavirus problem is really going to look ugly over the next 2 or 3 weeks across the country. I hope it’s an overstatement, but it’s hard to know. I was pretty upset when I drove by a drive up coffee business this week and saw kids all around it. No social distancing there. It’s upsetting kids would be that dumb, but it’s more disheartening the parents of those kids are allowing it to happen.

Support your local businesses, please. Call in an order to be delivered or take out. Do it every chance you can! I know some are going thru layoffs and furloughs, so I get that it’s not an option for some. All I’m saying is, buy from local businesses before you send your money to an online service somewhere else. Your neighbors need your business, and our eventual recovery from this mess depends on people spending money at home!

Stay Safe. Stay at Home!