I told Sean yesterday, “When do you think we will stop counting these days?” It was a day after I got an email about being able to schedule a haircut at a local salon as our region is in phased reopening.

Is this over? Should I just stop counting?

Counting has been one of my new routines and ways to cope with the many changes. I started counting on Saturday, March 14. This day feels significant because this was when the big shifts happened for us. The university announced a pause for the semester and that all in-person courses would go online and resume following spring break in early April. Our schools closed, somewhat abruptly on March 13th. I still went to work on Monday and Tuesday, but I knew by then that it was only in preparation for officially working from home on March 18th.

The numbers are on our family calendar. It’s somewhat odd to see them next to other events we expected this spring such as Xavi’s first grade spring concert and my work’s year-end award’s dinner. Still, those are a nice reminder of past good times and friends and family who we consider community.

Sometimes just keeping count makes me laugh or put things in perspective. On day 19, I laughed and felt a little sad when Archie hugged the plant I brought home. On day 22, I marveled at how many times Xavi could have breakfast. On day 36, Archie told me “I’m tired of you.” These days, it’s less funny. On day 71 I told Xavi to “shut-up”. Xavi rightfully responded, “Mom! You’re not supposed to say that!” When I apologized a few minutes later, he had already forgotten my offense. On day 76 I wrote: “Sidewalks are being installed in my neighborhood and the noise from construction vehicles makes it tough to concentrate on work. Between this and the heat (no AC and need to re-install the window unit), I’m missing my office.”

And today, while reflecting on some of the kind words friends have shared about how my blog inspired them, I finally decided to get back to blogging.

I won’t stop counting, so on day 77 I’ll note in my bullet journal: got back to blogging.