How does one count COVID-19 Shutdown days? Is it the number of days that my dental practice would have been open if it weren't for the outbreak? Is it total days, including weekends? Or what about the number of days since the government-mandated "shelter-in-place" order? I'm going with Day 6. Six workdays missed since the outbreak hit the Chicagoland area.
Over the weekend, Governor Pritzker announced something he called a "shelter-in-place" order. Add that to the modern vernacular: coronavirus, COVID-19, social distancing, self-isolation, shelter-in-place. Who would have guessed that each of these words or phrases went from unheard of to commonplace in ONE WEEK?!
Delegating in a random-appearing fashion "essential" from "non-essential" business has been pretty entertaining to watch. Our 2020 standard of "essential" would be laughable to previous generations. But hey, how would I stream YouTube if my iPhoneXX broke and the AT&T store wasn't open to sell me the newest model? What if I NEED a new pair of shoes, or the latest CD from Best Buy? Wait, Best Buy was still in business before the outbreak?? Thank goodness these businesses were deemed "essential" to American life in 2020. And Binny's is still open! What, pray tell, is closed then? Actually, I have no idea... The shopping malls I think, in case anyone has gone there in the past five years. And movie theaters. Because why stream a movie on a mega flatscreen TV in your PJ's with a beer and a bowl of ice cream in your own living room when you could pay $20 per person to walk across a sticky floor with a $15 bucket of popcorn and sit in a chair that makes a seat on an airline look clean? I wonder if they will re-open.
Lexie and I spent some time sewing this weekend. We made new hammocks for our pet rats. Yes, I've published a few blogs without mentioning that we have pet rats. I had to make you like me a little bit first so that you'd feel less judgemental. We have four, because if I didn't then the kids would fight over them. They're all girls, and they're really sweet. Anyway, when they were little rat pups, they used to love laying around in the homemade hammocks that we made for them. At some point, hammock production stopped, and it's probably been a year since these girls have had a nice place to snuggle up and rest. Well, it wasn't in the cage for five minutes before City Girl had one torn to shreds. I'm not sure if that was because she was so excited to have a hammock back, or because she was mad because we deprived her for so long, or if she forgot how much she used to love it. I'm not sure that production will continue. It would be easier to just cut up some fabric and let them tear it up.
I love being a pediatric dentist. I could talk about teeth all day. While I'd be perfectly entertained, I'm not sure anyone would have any interest in reading. I'm hoping to cover a few things in the coming weeks. I really miss the families in my practice, and my staff. And the routine. Twelve weeks is a long time. I keep playing the song "Time is on my side" by the Rolling Stones, but Cassie usually turns it off halfway through.
When these Senators are done arguing about how to waste, I mean spend... $2 TRILLION, they will all go home and self-quarantine with their families like the rest of us. Then maybe they will realize that all of the money should have gone DIRECLTY TO THE STAY-AT-HOME MOMS who do this all day, every day, without any pay, and without nearly as much credit as they deserve. $2 trillion split between all of the stay-at-home moms would be a lot of money, I think. There's still a lot of people who wouldn't be able to do it.
I'm heading off to get another loaf of sourdough going. I need to start exploring outside my comfort zone. Maybe next time...
