Sending long-distance hugs

Goodness, things have gone a bit crazy, haven't they?

At the beginning of 2020, we were looking forward to a big trip we had planned to South Korea and Europe. We were going to spend three nights in Seoul, taking in a Korean baseball game, showing the Adorable Girl the roots of her beloved Tae Kwon Do and doing our best to navigate a big Korean city without knowing two words of the language (we didn't expect "Hyundai" to get us that far ;) Then we were flying to the Czech Republic and spending time in Prague before traveling by train through Germany to Amsterdam, where we would have 10 glorious days reconnecting with our best good friends in one of the best cities in the world.

And then -- everything changed.

We watched news of the virus spread in China, then Korea, then Italy, Germany, Netherlands. It became clear pretty early on that our big Asian/European adventure was not going to happen. It became clear pretty soon after that the adventure we now faced was survival, getting our family safely through this outbreak to whatever waited for us on the other side.

It's the first official day of lockdown here in New Zealand. Two days ago, our prime minister announced to the country she was shutting things down. She was shutting NZ down.

Already she had closed our borders to travelers from known places of infection, and then to visitors from all parts of the world. Eventually, Kiwis abroad were told they couldn't return home for the time being. She closed all schools, all offices and all stores, besides the bare essentials -- supermarkets, banks, dairies (small convenience stores found in every neighborhood) and pharmacies. She told us to stay home and stay inside, unless you're an essential worker (doctors, nurses, truck drivers, etc.) or you need an essential from the grocery store. If you're out and about without good reason, you face the possibility of fines and other legal actions.

For four weeks, she said, all Kiwis would give up their regular lives in an attempt to save the lives of some of us. Our case trajectory too closely mirrored other countries around the world, with 205 cases now confirmed. Most of those were linked to overseas travel, but a handful were confirmed as community transmission. That handful was enough to scare those in charge; no more transmission could be risked. No more lives could be chanced.

News of the lockdown brought our family happy relief. I felt giddy! We had been on a self-imposed lockdown since the Thursday before. Kids had been home from school, I resigned early from my job. Shane started working from home. Every morning before the lockdown was announced, I had to read the news and make heavy decisions for our family -- is it safe to send them to school this morning? Is it safe for Shane to take the bus downtown? The stress brought on by those simple decisions was unreal.

We weren't being dramatic, we were just trying to stay safe. We simply can't risk getting Covid-19 in this house -- because of me. My asthmatic lungs do a terrible job fighting off a regular strain of the common cold. As if I needed reminding, I caught a common cold on one of my last days at school last week, and my lungs are just shaking it off a week later. I know it's not Covid-19 since I didn't have any of the symptoms related the flu -- no fever, muscle aches, fatigue, etc. I feel completely fine; it's my lungs that go crazy at the first sign of virus. I don't even want to imagine how they would react to this new virus.

So in those days before our Prime Minister took decisive action to shut down the country, we as a family were having to make 1,000 little decisions every day to try to keep ourselves safe. And it felt overwhelming.

I'd read a news article with Italian doctors warning other countries to do more, to avoid their fate. And then I'd read an article in our local paper telling families school was the safest place for kids to be, that keeping them home would only slow their progress. I'd see the thousands of mixed messages being sent out to Americans from every mayor, governor and one ridiculous Commander in Chief, and then try to weigh those opinions with what the experts were telling us about what was really happening. It felt impossible to make good decisions without one clear, decisive voice in charge. And then, thankfully, New Zealand found its voice, and the burden of keeping our family safe moved beyond us to the community at large.

I am grateful for New Zealand's leadership on this issue. I am grateful to be stuck at home.

It's Day 1 of the country's month-long lockdown, but Day 7 for our family. We've been doing lessons in math, science, reading, spelling and writing. The kids have been wildly creative, painting, drawing, creating digital books, animations, video games. Our kids are always busy making something -- and though I sometimes grumble about finding glitter all over the carpet or having to figure out how to do something on the computer that's way beyond my skills ("Ask your Dad!") I'm so grateful for their creativity. They are amazing and resilient and I'm so proud of them every day.

We have been cooking all our meals (nothing new, we're cheapskates ;) and rationing out our paper towels. The Adorable Girl's been baking bread and sweets. The Adorable Boy's been literally climbing the walls ;) We wear our $3 face masks to take the dog for walk around the neighborhood. Shane places online food orders at midnight so we can get a pickup for the next week. We text our parents back home and ask them to please, just stay home, just this once. We chat with friends here and abroad and make sure everyone's OK, that we're all getting through what will likely be one of the craziest things we'll ever get through.

And we will get through, all of us, in this weird act of togetherness through distance.

"I have one final message," Jacinda Ardern told us Kiwis. "Be kind. I know people will want to act as enforcers. And I understand that, people are afraid and anxious. We will play that role for you. What we need from you, is support one another. Go home tonight and check in on your neighbours. Start a phone tree with your street. Plan how you’ll keep in touch with one another. We will get through this together, but only if we stick together. Be strong and be kind."

Be strong. Be kind. That's how we're getting through these weeks ahead. And I hope you all can do the same.

Lots of love and long-distance hugs from New Zealand! Stay safe, stay well, and see you on the other side!