Quiz #85. Do the Math
How to explain a special birthday gift and counting down the days to the end of the pandemic in Steve's Stay-at-Home Coronavirus Quiz for October 4, 2020.
Sunday morning, October 4th, 2020.
Awake too early--again.
4:47am.
Unrelenting anxiety, restless dogs and the (mutual) need to go to the bathroom.
Where did the time go?
Less than 1 month to go now until Election Day.
Nearly 7 months of working from home, leaving the house only twice a day to walk the dogs with the trips to any store or business so unusual they really feel like other-worldly adventures.
On July 14th in Quiz #69. After the Dog Days, I wrote about some of the things that I will miss when this pandemic is finally over. The first thing on that list was not having to commute into and out of the city. Without that commute, the extra 3 hours a day felt like a gift with more time to do things. Reading, writing this quiz and scanning old family photos.
Sadly, the glitter from this gift of time has faded as pandemic life became normal life. It’s now routine to have a few extra hours in the morning. Work has bled into that time and filling in those extra hours doesn’t feel as special when they’re there every day. It’s not surprising that the excitement and sense of adventure for the new things of the pandemic have melded into the everyday of this new existence. Gone is that burst of energy for baking chocolate chip cookies, organizing reunions on Zoom and even chronicling the amazing things that happen every day as I have attempted to do in this stay-at-home pandemic quiz. The fever pitch of awareness is not sustainable and has faded as the weeks of isolation have turned into months of coronavirus life.
The unrelenting pace of the news doesn’t help. It’s worn me down and made me numb to the passage of time. On Saturday morning, I talked on the phone with my siblings, a weekly routine that has been born and endured in the pandemic. I talked about what it was like to work in TV news late Thursday night October 1st as we got the word that the President had Covid and then Friday afternoon when news came that he was being taken to the hospital for treatment. I was taken by surprise when they turned to talking about the Presidential Debate. Was that really just this week? Tuesday, September 28th? It just did not seem possible to me. It felt like something from months ago.
On Saturday, October 3rd, I Facetimed with my son, Ted. He and Erica were having a joint birthday party for our granddaughters, Turner and Marin. Turner turns 3 on October 5th, Marin turned 1 on September 30th. Where did the time go?
Sara and I did not make the trip to Michigan--it just doesn’t seem safe for us. It’s one more loss from Covid, but daughters Annie and Betsy did go, posting adorable images to social media.
On September 27th, Annie turned 38. Throughout the pandemic, we’ve sent her care packages of Diet Coke and snacks. For her birthday, I arranged for a special delivery from Amazon. I alerted her in advance to check the apartment lobby for the delivery a few nights before her birthday. My hint to her, “Do the math.”
Even when the delivery came, it took a few minutes for Annie to figure it out and then I had to spell it out.
2 boxes with 14 snack-packs of CheezIts plus 8 boxes of regular CheezIts and 2 boxes of Extra Toasty CheezIts and
3 sleeves of 12 cans of Diet Coke and 2 separate bottles.
38 years. Where did the time go?
Annie and me in 1983, around her 1st birthday. I was 26 years old—not a gray hair in sight.
When Annie was born in Arizona, a friend came to the hospital to take photos of her and we had them developed at a 1-Hour photo service which, back then, was a big deal. I then sent the pictures via FedEx to the grandparents, another big deal.
Annie in the hospital. September, 1982.
When I phoned my mother a few days later, I asked if she’d gotten anything special. She said she hadn’t. When I pressed, she said there had been a delivery for my father. She assumed that because it was FedEx, it had to be something for business. The idea of using it for personal use was beyond imagination.
38 years later, Betsy’s birthday gift to Annie was a special video birthday greeting through a service called Cameo. This is Annie’s favorite “Housewife,” Gizelle from Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of Potomac.”
38 years later, imagine trying to explain this video, Cameo and “Real Housewives” to my mother who really spent her life as a housewife. RIP.
Tomorrow, Monday, October 5th, Turner turns 3.
Turner was born on October 5, 2017.
I have told the family before, but beyond Turner’s birth, a lot of momentous things happened on October 5, 2017. The New York Times published its landmark story on Harvey Weinstein, starting the #MeToo movement that saw Weinstein convicted of sex crimes in 2020. On the October 5, 2017, President took to Twitter to criticize a news story that I had worked on. Finally, though the world would not find out about it for several weeks, on October 5, 2017, former Trump adviser George Papadopoulos signed papers, secretly pleading guilty to lying to federal agents about his contacts with Kremlin-connected Russians. Where did the time go?
On September 1st, my step-son John celebrated his birthday. Last weekend, he came home from the city to celebrate his birthday. It was also our first chance to meet his girlfriend, Leigh. They got Covid tests before coming and happily posed for a picture. I explained the quiz to Leigh and John. Both agreed that I could include this picture here, sitting at the dining room table that John used as his office for the first 3 months of the pandemic. Where did the time go?
The last few weeks have also been a whirlwind because my stepson WIll had to have emergency gallbladder surgery on Thursday, September 24th. After a visit to his doctor and a sonogram of his abdomen, Sara literally dropped him at the ER for surgery. We had a very small taste of the pain of separation that so many people have had to endure with this pandemic. I simply cannot imagine how painful it must be to be isolated from a loved one who is hospitalized for weeks, maybe even months. Will’s two nights in the hospital were very hard. Sara did go into the hospital on the day Will was released. She and Will were taught how to care for the surgical drain that he had for one week at home before it was removed. Will has had a speedy and smooth recovery.
Will asked that there be no gallbladder surgery/recovery images so I did not take any pictures, but I will leave you with this mental image. Because of the surgical drain, Will needed loose-fitting shirts that buttoned up the front. Each day since he’s been home, I have given him one of my Hawaiian shirts to wear. They’re big and bright--a fashion accessory to the Ginger Ale and Jello of recovery. Will’s told us it was the first time he remembers having Jello without the extra ingredients of the Jello shots of college life. Where did the time go?
In between world events and Will’s surgery, Sara and I took the time to vote.
In New Jersey, it could not have been any easier. The county mailed us our ballots, we filled them out and on the morning after the debate, on Wednesday, September 30th, we walked them up the street to the secure drop-box outside the community center and library.
Writing this on Sunday morning, even taking that Wednesday walk with our ballots seems like weeks ago.
Cam Newton has Covid and in Week 4, the first 2 NFL games have been postponed because of Covid. Will more follow?
What’s more, will there be more infections among the White House and GOP leaders? How will the President’s recovery go and what will all that mean in the weeks ahead?
We simply do not know. And yet, in less than a month, it will be Election Day. Maybe we’ll know the results that night. Maybe a few nights later. Maybe weeks. We’re ready to know. We’re ready to remove beyond the uncertainty of this pandemic and the pending election.
Where did the time go?
One way or another, it’s time to do the math.
What did not happen?
A. On Thursday night, I was working and the news was on high alert with looming speculation that the President might have tested positive for Covid. As I worked in my office, Sara went to bed at 11pm, asking me to wake her if the test results came in;
B. When word came just before 1am on Friday morning that the President had tested positive, I woke up Sara and told her, “The President has Covid.” Waking up, the first thing she said was, “What about Melania?”
C. Will was coming up to bed when the news of the President’s diagnosis broke. When I told him, he thought I was joking;
D. I sent out the news of the diagnosis on our family text chain and Ted responded, “Fake news!” He retracted that text minutes later;
E. This week, I emailed Ted a copy of a story I’d read in the Atlantic, “This Overlooked Variable Is the Key to the Pandemic.” It’s about the uneven spread of coronavirus.It’s a central point that Ted has been talking about for months and I told him that when I read it, I thought, “Ted is right.”
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Want more?
Here’s the next quiz in the series: Quiz #86. Awake Too Early.
Here’s the previous quiz in the series: Quiz #84. 3 Emails, 3 Snail Mails and 1 Special Note.
Here’s the first quiz in the series: Quiz #1. Stella and Social Distancing, March 13, 2020
Here is an archive of all the quizzes.
The quiz is explained here: Steve’s Stay-at-Home Coronavirus Quiz.
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