Shan’s Story

I’m feeling sort of stuck in the middle. My family of four has been fortunate—we have reserves to draw on during this time when I’ve been partially employed. We haven’t been directly affected by illness from the pandemic, but we keep hearing about more and more people who have been affected.

The first direct connection was a co-worker who lost a father to the disease. More recently, a cousin who works in the medical field was infected—fortunately, she did not become seriously ill. There is a kind of looming dread that feels like more people close to us will be affected; it’s just a matter of time. There is another type of fear about one of us, or our aging parents, getting infected.

We have adapted fairly well to sheltering in place. We shop less frequently, but more thoughtfully. One thing that surprised me was how much I miss going to the gym. I knew I’d miss the group exercise classes, but I have also acutely missed the social aspects of chatting with the instructors and other regular students before and after classes.

Our family tries to get outdoor exercise by walking, jogging, or bicycling. Cycling has been particularly enjoyable for the family. We learned that bicycles have been in short supply since so many people have been buying them as a way to exercise outdoors. I was happy to be able to fix up a neighbor’s old bike and pass it along to another neighbor who needed one.

We have had many challenging family discussions about what kinds of outside activities to do. Should we meet friends and stay on opposite sides of the sidewalk to talk? Should we go for a group hike or bike ride with other households? Should we go camping? Should we visit the grandparents?

The teenagers are forming their own opinions and thought processes, which is fantastic, but it also slows down consensus-building. Ultimately, we decided to take some camping trips because most of the time we’d be outdoors. We decided to wait to visit one of the grandmas because that visit would be mostly indoors. Curiously, she is pushing for us to visit, but we are more worried than she is about spreading potential germs.

The protests were a sad reminder of how much more work the United States should do. They were also a reminder of how divided the country’s attitudes are toward policing and race.

I have not been to a protest before, but the recent events brought me closer to participating than I ever have been before.