Making Lemonade

Greetings from my couch without a view!  

It’s officially spring break, and I’m supposed to be on a beach somewhere.  Instead I’m quarantined with my children and husband, removed from the comfort of our schedule with no vacation in sight.  Our schools have closed.  Our movie theaters have closed.  And we haven’t a square to spare. 

We’re in uncharted territory facing a real-life public health crisis.  People seem more anxious now than ever, yet I’m trying to maintain calm at home.  Without it, we’re doomed to constant fighting and pre-pubescent attitude. 

There is officially no break in Spring Break.  

Sure, the kids are psyched at the notion that they won’t return to school for weeks.  Their souls will be crushed when I convene ‘mom school’ this time next week. Until then, we’re playing board games, building Lego, limiting screen time (the struggle is real!), and trying to make lemonade.

At work, I’m being asked to migrate my courses online DURING spring break.  Unlike most other universities in this situation, my employer has not offered us an additional buffer week to ramp up to the e-learning platform.  Luckily, I’m familiar with the tools available to us, but the adaptation isn’t as easy as it seems.  But again, we’re making lemonade.  This time it’s with a squeeze of Zoom and a dash of Canvas.  What’s more, as you can imagine, college students are nervous about everything – grades, exams, lecture formats, cancelling graduation, everything.  And rightfully so.  

None of us knows when we’ll return to campus or school or Nordstrom or Starbucks.  It’s a pandemic, for crying out loud. It’s time for jazz hand greetings, social distancing, surgical hand washing, and an out-and-out lifestyle paradigm shift. We’re in this together.  We can do this.  We WILL do this.

2020 has served us a freaking bushel of lemons so far (part of the reason I haven’t posted since November), but we’re furiously stomping them to a pulp. We’re only a few months in and already thinking about putting up our Christmas trees to finish this crazy year. And we’re making lemonade – sweet, delicious, effervescent, slightly tart lemonade.

Over these next few weeks or (God help us) months, follow me into uncharted territory whilst, ironically, rarely leaving the house. Along the way, I’ll write and post useful links to try to help cope with madness as our worlds collide. Cross your fingers that the kids stay quiet as I live stream lectures from home…

Interested in following my adventures in the not-so-great migration to the online teaching platform? Enroll in COVID-U now!

I hope you’ll check back and share information you find interesting, helpful, or funny. I look forward to hearing from you!      

Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.

Benjamin Franklin