It's hard to believe it's May, because it feels like it was just March. All of April disappeared into the quarantine black hole, and all the usual ways we mark time have disappeared. I'm working on accepting that this may go on much longer than I could have imagined at the beginning.

One step at a time. That’s the key, isn’t it? It’s an answer you often hear when people are asked how they’ve done something that seems hard. One step at a time.

We are now five weeks into staying home. We went for a drive yesterday, just to have a change of scenery and it was the first time I or my children have been in a car in five whole weeks.

Week 4. One month. No end in sight.

I realized today that the photo that is the background for my computer was taken on the last day before I had an inkling that everything would change.

Well, this is really starting to feel like a new normal. The first few weeks felt temporary, but now it’s hard to imagine the end of this. Our schools are still scheduled to reopen May 18, but as more and more states are announcing that they won’t be returning this school year, I’m preparing myself for that to be the case for us as well.

Week two.

We have no idea how long this might go on. Last week, there was still some hope of this being short term. School closures were only scheduled for two weeks. Today, schools are closed until May 15 (at least), and I’ve heard mention that it could be up to eighteen months before things get back to normal.

Two weeks ago, I was spending the four o’clock hour each day chatting with two kindergarten mom friends outside the school. After driving through the carpool line, we’d pull into a parking space and talk as we let our children run through the grass, making up games and releasing a day worth of energy.