Happy Monday everyone!  I hope you had a wonderful weekend.  In the post lock down world, my favorite thing about the weekend is that they feel somewhat normal, with the exception that we aren’t driving our kids to sports all the time.  Of course, the reduction in organized sports has been a big concern for us as parents.  It’s important that the kids stay active and develop lifetime habits of fitness and activity and don’t develop into long term, obese children that would, of course, be a co-morbidity for future pandemics.  So, with that in mind and to maintain some level of consistent parenting (because we have spent the last 8 years saying “Why are you inside on your phones and playing video games when you should be hanging out with your friends and playing at the park like we did when we were kids…”) we balance the new world by practicing “safe sports”.

You might ask what that means.  Let me tell you about the Cs and the Vs. “Sometimes, as you grow into your bodies, you find that you want to do things that seem natural but can be dangerous.  Even when you have a nice friend who invites you to play and doesn’t look sick and even though they’ve told you they haven’t played with anybody else, you just don’t know unless they get tested  So as fun as they might be to play with, it’s better to practice abstinence or at the very least, safe social distancing.”  My one son has really taken this to heart so he’s been working out by himself, a lot.  In in his room, in my room, in the basement, in front of the TV, and sometimes alone in the street.   We tell him that these are lonely times, but the more he works out, the better he will feel.

I do miss the driving the kids to sports, though.  I miss watching them grow and learn and I enjoy the other parents who are on the parenting journey as well.  But now, after being stuck in the house, I drive for fun and it’s a lot more fun than it used to be.  The roads are empty!  In fact, the roads are so empty that the police are staged every few miles to catch speeders.  I saw four cars pulled over today.  I thought I got caught twice but I was frequently being passed by cars that I didn’t think could go that fast (and I’m not sure the owner did either!)  It was more like the autobahn in Germany than I-25 in Denver.  A new normal?

For my wife and I, we went for a coffee walk this morning to discover some odd inconsistencies.  The Starbucks is closed, where we had been heading to get two coffees and two breakfast sandwiches for the boys- the sign tell us “It’s for our safety and they aren’t sure when they will open”.  But Einstein Bagels, only 0.6 blocks away, was wide open.  We managed to acquire two coffees and two sandwiches but with some strict rules.  Only 3 people were allowed in the store at the same time so the rest of us patiently waited in line outside, sitting at the metal tables that were too large and heavy to move.  As we waited, people with dogs let them roam, walking from person to person, back to each other, licking, drooling and licking again.  It was peaceful.  We all chatted about “The Apocalypse” and one said “You know, I used to think of toilet paper like I was spinning Wheel of Fortune but now I feel like I’m opening a safe…”  It’s fun to hear new stories and hard to meet new people on Zoom but it’s probably not appropriate to get a Tinder account with so few weeks left in the quarantine.

It made me realize how much I miss strangers, and that maybe my parents had been wrong.  I found myself kind of hoping one of them had offered me candy to get in their van…. it might be less risky than dying of COVID, I’m told.

Inspired by the toilet paper story and cracking a safe, we walked over to the brand new CVS where masks were “recommended but not mandatory” (so I kept my red lace one in my pocket, lest I make a scene).  No one was in the store and fortunately, we bought the last package of toilet paper AND paper towel!  Imagine our luck!  We went to check out but he said… he doesn’t work the register, it’s too dangerous, even with the new plexiglass, so could we please use the self check out.  I touched all the buttons, put my food and coffee down, found out that the first machine was closed and then moved over to the second machine to repeat the process.  The cost $37.63 (which was an odd parallel) and felt like the shortage was leading to a huge surge in prices, which made me think about pork, milk, chickens and grains in the fall.  It was a fleeting thought, it was time to get home.

On the way, we walked past Trader Joe’s where we saw a line outside that circumnavigated the building.  Most patrons wearing masks, but certainly not all, and they politely stood ~6′ apart.  But as you walked by the entrance, if you stood just right, you could see the line in one eye and with the other, on the inside of the store, at least 14 people were in the produce section, grabbing and touching and feeling the vegetables to their hearts desire in a space that “in line” occupied no more than 2 people.

We met 3 neighbors that in 12 years in the house, we had never chatted with, and we got stuck in a conversation (which I suppose is why we don’t usually have time to talk to the neighbors).  With that, I whisked my son to the golf course to practice where, I kid you not, you cannot get a tee time unless you book 7 days in advance.  Any other year, the tee sheet was 50% open. Today, the first tee time was 5:12 pm.  Best of all, golf has the massive benefit that if you are within 6′ of someone else, they will get hit in their head with your club so it makes social distancing really easy.

As we drove, we passed Cranmer Park, which was the busiest I’ve ever seen it.  I know because I had lots of time to observe.  The road was full of people out walking their dogs, riding their bikes, pushing their kids and running in the streets.  It was like driving in Cairo. You had to meander your way through the crowds, honking the horn to get people to move.  The day was beautiful though, the sun was out and at least 80 people were playing soccer, having picnics, throwing balls, and enjoying the outdoors in tight little clusters of groups (no more than 10, I’m sure) across the 3 x 3 block park.  The dogs all ran and licked each other happily as though nothing was wrong.

3 hours at the course practicing, 90 people on the range, lots of air high fives, and after, we hung out in the parking lot drinking tonic water and chatting about the “black market places” you can go to get your hair cut, nails done and buy clothes.

We came home, walked to a local restaurant that has benches near by where most people sat and patiently waited for their food, some eating and prepared for Monday.  The day when everyone goes back to sitting inside at their computers, alone, on Zoom to make sure they don’t run into people or get licked by their dogs like they did all weekend.

We have a security blanket around social distancing but our weekends look nothing like our weekdays, and unfortunately, the weekdays are how the economy makes the bacon (and we already talk about what happens to pigs once they get bigger than 280 lbs). It’s time to start living life 7 days a week.