On The Road to Homebound Holidays

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This will be remembered as the most unusual, challenging, heartbreaking yet resilient Easter/Passover Holiday we’ve ever experienced. With the Stay at Home order still in place, families were not able to gather at churches or synagogues to celebrate a most holy time of year, nor were families allowed to gather at each others’ homes. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. Services for many faiths were held on-line via internet streaming. Families shared the holiday via Facetime. Our small Seder of three still celebrated freedom, endurance and overcoming adversity,. Admittedly, I held back tears, reading the Haggadah while missing the rest of my family.

As of this writing, the latest statistics show 1,672 news cases of COVID-19 in Illinois in the past 24 hours, including 43 additional deaths. That brings the total state-wide to 20,852 cases including 720 deaths. We may be heading in the right direction as far as flattening the curve, but we still have a ways to go. Many June festivals have been canceled with question marks beyond that for the summer. I continue to settle into my “Kitchen Studio.”

In fact, we’re ALL up early, Sara helping me set up the studio and Glenn getting a head start on his paperwork!

I have found the best way to stay productive and motivated during Stay at Home is to have a schedule. Of course I have a very STRICT schedule between 2:30 am and 9:00 am, but after that, up for grabs. I am now doing Pilates 3 days a week, through Zoom from 10 to 11 am. Thank you Kristi for bringing Superior Pilates into our homes!

I am producing my weekly Facebook feature “Fabulous Fur Babies” to keep my creative juices flowing.

And I’m staying on top of the traffic/construction beat by safely producing videos showing new road repair projects.

The one thing I am most adamant about is staying at home as much as possible. Being in the high risk group, I continued to minimize exposure by enjoying the few beautiful days we had this week either in my backyard, or walking the dogs away from other people.

We went old-school, playing card games like Mille Borne and jumping on the puzzle bandwagon. The last time I did a puzzle was DECADES ago!

Today Sara and I cleaned out my home office, making it look like an office and not a storage room! I then tried a new recipe and made Vegetable Tagine for dinner (shades of Morocco!)

Do I have moments of doubt or fear? Of course. Nothing like this has ever happened in my lifetime and there is still so much that is unknown. I was so glad to see Governor Pritzker establish a text hotline where people can find mental health support for things like anxiety and depression. (Text “TALK” or “HABLAR” for Spanish to 5-5-2-0-2-0). As we continue to wait it out, I continue to look for the positive and keep a sense of humor. Blessed Easter / Chag Sameach.