What a strange time. Next week, schools here on Orcas Island will close their doors. All children are to stay home. Some parents both work and will now have latchkey kids. Some parents will have to choose which one will quit their job to homeschool. Some parents must work their normal hours from home, with their kids in the same living room. Some parents’ jobs can’t be brought home so they’ve been sent home without work but with a little stipend. Some parents will have no income yet kids to educate or worry with all day long. Some single working parents, aunts, uncles, grandmas, grandpas, or guardians shoulder all of the upheaval alone.
Groups and gatherings are now suspended. Many stores closed their doors today for what may be months. Playdates are to be avoided. Touching and hugging are ill-advised from here on. Hunkering down in our homes with some basic necessities and setting aside social outings as much as possible is the general consensus now.
Orcas Island is a place of wonderful community. In all of the uncertainty coming this next week and beyond, Island Market last night was full of people still quick to smile, converse, and care about one another in the midst of the wild unknowns. I love that about this place.
