Blood, Gardening, and Vodka - Lent Journal (16/40)

Tonight's post is going to be more of a proper blog, because as much as I would love to put on my theology hat and talk soteriology or eschatology, at the moment I need to stop thinking, just write what comes to me, and get some sleep.

Today I got out to LifeSouth to donate platelets - it took about two hours, but was totally worth it. They have such a low supply right now because of lack of donors; too many people afraid they are potentially infected (or maybe afraid of getting infected? fear is not always rational). Turns out the FDA has published a notice: "respiratory viruses, in general, are not known to be transmitted by blood transfusion, and there have been no reported cases of transfusion-transmitted coronavirus". We all have our own way to support the community, but I hope you will consider donating - whoever you are, dear reader.

I talked to my son for a few minutes yesterday. He's at mom's house, no school until March 27th (there will be remote teaching beginning next week - no idea what that looks like). I'll be continuing to see him on my regularly-scheduled parenting days. I'm anxious about him, mostly just because I'm not there and I want to be. I'm going to try to talk to him more while he's at home, if I can ever time the phone call right. It always feels so awkward, being a parent but not going through the same day-to-day things. But then again, we all have our unique challenges, and I shouldn't compare. Something to work on.

My spring garden is beginning to take shape. I planted radishes, carrots, and spinach two weeks ago; the radishes are coming up already. No signs yet of the carrots or spinach, I may have planted them too early. Strawberries are recovering from the winter, I'm really looking forward to them in a few months. I also transplanted onions today, which I had grown from sprouts in water. We'll see how well it works out, but it's an interesting experiment nonetheless. In the next week I'll be planting some more, I've got about 40 square feet to work with.

The Archdiocese of Atlanta hasn't totally shut down yet; most parishes seem to be holding Mass tomorrow still, though we have been dispensed from the Sunday Obligation. All events, activities, and religious education have been canceled, of course. Tomorrow we will have a last middle school / high school ministry class to talk through the virus, though we're anticipating very low turnout. In the meantime, my Dad made a suggestion that parishes could have a vodka font in the Narthex to kill the virus, so we wouldn't need to get rid of the holy water. Obviously that wouldn't happen because of any number of reasons (children? recovering alcoholics? the smell?), let alone the amount of vodka required across the Archdiocese - but the suggestion lightened the mood, which I think I need.

I haven't quite figured out the level of paranoia required for social distancing - what the limits are, and when I am being overly cautious. My girlfriend and I have partly talked through what social distancing will look like - she'll very likely be going to her parents' house this next week so she isn't alone, since she'll be working from home. My work office isn't closed yet, but it just seems like it's only a matter of time. I'll be at my house still, with a few days here and there with Shota, but I have to admit I'm really not looking forward to the isolation. Even as an introvert, I need people, and my love language is physical touch. I need to hold myself accountable to reach out and video chat with friends whenever possible. We'll make it through though.

That's all for tonight, I think. I feel like every conversation right now is about Coronavirus, and while that isn't all that surprising, I just need a break from it. I'd love to figure out how to play chess with a friend (without doing online - I want an actual physical board) - if anyone has ideas, I'm on board.