I like bad jokes and I cannot lie. But for some reason, I’m having trouble coming up with any jokes to share today, good, bad, or otherwise. Maybe it’s because I had the stomach flu yesterday and am still not quite myself yet. Maybe it’s because I’ve spent the better part of the last 36-ish hours trying to make up for all the sleep I didn’t get Monday night because I was too busy trying to talk my stomach into a better mood. Or maybe it’s because life right now feels like the worst possible kind of joke.

I think I’m gonna go with that last one.

While it is nice to be able to spend more time at home with my kids, I still miss getting out of the house. I’m fortunate to live in a rural area, so if I want to go for a walk, I have plenty of space in which to do so without having to worry about running into anyone else. I’m fortunate that no one in my family has been afflicted with COVID-19. I’m fortunate for a lot of reasons.

I am not, however, fortunate enough to be a good teacher, and that bothers me now more than ever. Trying to work from home and keep my kids up-to-date with schoolwork is a Herculean task, and schoolwork has largely fallen by the wayside. I worry that when school eventually resumes, they’ll be behind on things.

All I can really do is hope that when we all come out on the other side of this, that we won’t be much worse for wear. And in the meantime, at least I have plenty of poems to write (it’s NaPoWriMo!) and we have plenty of Star Trek to watch.

How are you staying sane during this period of isolation?

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