A Return to Normalcy?

7-11 in Denver. Photo by Nina Snyder.

Colorado's stay-at-home expired yesterday, which means that today was the first day of the revised "safer-at-home" order. I ventured out to Dunkin Donuts to celebrate. What better way is there to mark one month of surviving a pandemic than deep-fried sweets?

It was almost back to normal. There was traffic. Someone honked at me, and another person cut me off, just like old times. I have never been more grateful for rude drivers. For the last month, everyone has been preternaturally polite.

The drive to the donut shop seemed almost normal, except for the fact that myself and my two children were all wearing masks in the car.

We passed a construction site, now bustling with construction workers. Normal. 

We passed my daughter's preschool, now closed for the school year in April. Not normal. 

We passed by 7-11, where I stopped to get gas at $1.65 a gallon. NOT NORMAL AT ALL.

Either I traveled back in time to two decades ago when gas was that price -- or
the new normal is an alternate universe where everyone stays at home, generating a precipitous drop in gas prices.

I vote for the first option.

Nina Snyder is the author of ABCS OF BALLS and the designer of the HOT PINK ORCHARD JOURNAL. Follow her on Twitter @nsnyder_writer.

Lessons in Doing Nothing for Quarantine

Photo by Nina Snyder

So far, it's been three weeks since Colorado's stay-at-home order to prevent the spread of coronavirus went into effect on March 26. For me, the hardest part has been wrapping my mind around the concept of doing something by doing nothing. Sitting at home binge-watching Netflix isn't exactly the heroic effort that previous generations have exerted in times of worldwide crisis.

I wrote about adjusting to wearing face masks for the Colorado Sun last week. This week, I finally got some additional to sew masks for local hospitals. So my net contribution to the Great Pandemic of 2020 will be 20 polka-dot face masks.

As I dusted off the sewing machine, I realized it has been years since I sewed anything. The last time I used a sewing machine, I was in high school, where I spent a lot of time doing nothing in a small town. If anything, this has been the best training for staying at home.

In high school, the main excitement consisted of driving in a loop around "downtown," which was approximately two blocks, in my friend's white Camaro. The car may have changed to a more family-friendly version, but last week the big weekend excitement was taking the family for a long drive around the neighborhood.

I'm afraid the rest of my quarantine will be a repeat of high school. I will lock myself in my room and listen to the Cure when I'm feeling angst. I will daydream of life in more exciting places. Maybe I will even sew my own prom dress in an '80s extravaganza of satin and chiffon.

Nina Snyder is the author of ABCS OF BALLS and the designer of the HOT PINK ORCHARD JOURNAL. Follow her on Twitter @nsnyder_writer.