Over the weekend, we anxiously watched the news as numbers of cases increased. Band Camp for the girls was cancelled at the last minute. All sport was cancelled. We decided that we would not go to church due to the risk. We had our own service at home and we each had a role in the service. Ed chose the bible verse for Mark to preach on: Mark 14:52 " and he left the linen cloth and ran away naked".
Sal was all set up to work from home but was unsure of whether the kids should go to school. Social media was full of posts about the need to self isolate to #stopthespread, but no one seemed to be proactive about how to do this.
Sal posted on Facebook on the Sunday night whether she should speak to the schools about keeping the kids at home. She was amazed by the positive response and amount of parents (and even Meriden Board members) who also wished to keep their kids at home. But still no comments from the Schools.
The hard decision was made to keep the kids from home. And it was a hard decision.
The kids hated being away from their friends. They hated that they were missing out on classes. They hated being different.
It broke our hearts to see their anguish. We felt though that we had to be true to our convictions.
Sal went to work on Monday and the train trip was unpleasant. People coughed, sneezed and snivelled the whole trip. There was nowhere to go. She got of the train at Circular Quay and the man next to her was coughing and touching everything. She saw a Cruise Ship docked and passengers at Circular Quay. What crazy people to go on one of those after the Princess Diamond fiasco. Mark picked up Sal after work as she was not going back on a train. From now on- Sal was working from home!
From Monday- Holly and Ed worked from home, but by Tuesday all the kids worked from home. We informed the schools and they said that was ok. However, both girls went to school on Friday for exams, which they felt self conscious about, and Sally and Mark felt annoyed about.
Day 1 at home and we realised we would not have enough cheese, biscuits or BBQ sauce.
Holly was lucky as one of her friends streamed a lot of the classes. She even went to a party for one of her friends (with just 3 girls) and had a great time in the pool, watching movies, playing with the hermit crabs and baking. But still.. it was hard as we had isolated her all week and she was out at someones house. The mum was great and sterilised the house, was extra careful.. but still...
Ed was just bored. Luckily, Pete and Kristen had also made the same decision to keep their kids home so Ed was able to chat to Benny and play minecraft.
Kate was just stressed. She had worked hard and felt all her friends were learning in class and she was stuck at home. One Music teacher thought they were staying at home to protect Mark in his precious state! (he had heart surgery in November)
Sal was happy with her desk in the bedroom. She taught Granddad to use Microsoft Teams so he could video chat with her.
Mark had lots on. He is working 1 1/2 days as a chaplain for Uniting Nursing homes, volunteer chaplain for Ambulance and full time study for his PhD. He did a lot of video conferences- including a big pitch for a government grant to look at how moral injury and remote working intersect. Fingers crossed. By the beginning of the next week much of the the rest of the NSW had caught up, but that is next week's story.
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