Amy, Kathleen and I drove home from work together on Thursday March 12, relieved to be finished our week and excited about beginning our March Break. Well, to be honest, Kathleen and Amy were more excited than I was. Amy was heading to Mexico the next morning (plane was leaving at 6am on Friday), and Kathleen was heading to Disneyworld on Saturday. I had been feeling sorry for myself all week because a lot of people at work were planning southern getaways, while I was staying home in my tiny house with Don and the kids. I was feeling very tired of being in debt, very angry at myself for getting into debt again, very frustrated with Don for not making more money, and very jealous of pretty much everyone around me.
We have been out on the picket lines four times since school started back up in February. At the beginning of the week before March Break, we discussed whether or not we thought we would be out on full strike after the break. All three of us felt that we would be out on full strike soon - maybe not right after the break - but soon, and we all felt that it was a justified decision, albeit an expensive one for us. We talked about how we might have to get extensions on mortgages in order to make ends meet. A few days earlier, I had said “I don’t know, guys - it might be this Coronavirus thing that closes the school before a strike does.” Amy laughed at me. Kathleen thought the virus might be an issue, but did not think the schools would close. When Kathleen and I started to discuss the issue, Amy said “I will DIE if I can’t go on my trip. I NEED this.” We all agreed that nothing would happen until a few weeks after the break, at the earliest. Kathleen was fully intending to go to Disney, and was looking forward to potentially shorter lines if people stayed home out of fear of the virus. I share all this NOT to make Kathleen and Amy look or sound selfish or ignorant. This is how we ALL felt, and I would have said/done exactly the same things if I had a trip planned.
All three of us went home to our families to begin our normal evening routines.
At 4:15 pm, Kathleen texted a link to a news article, stating that Ontario schools were shutting down for two weeks after March Break. I immediately checked Twitter, and verified that it was “all over Twitter now, too!” Kathleen replied that she had gone to the store for wipes to take to Florida, but they were sold out everywhere. Amy wondered “What’s happening?” It’s hard to express exactly how I felt about it. I mean, I was kinda excited. A three week vacation when I was only expecting one…that’s good news, right? But it seemed extreme. And, if it was extreme, that must mean it was…I don’t know..dangerous? Scary? I texted my kids, who were with their dad, to see if they had heard. My daughter thought it was only the “public schools”, and not the “catholic schools”. Once I explained that catholic schools are also public (not private), her response was an underwhelming “Oh”. My son, who is typically anti-school, just worried that the Y would shut down, and that he wouldn’t be able to work. Later, when my daughter came over with three of her friends (before social distancing was a term, let alone a way of life… a WEEK ago, for the love of God!), I asked them what they thought about the long vacation. My daughter said “Scared…what if it’s never normal again?” One of her friends said “I’d rather just get my Grade 9 year in, to be honest…”, and her other friend said “It just seems weird”. I realized that I had asked them because I was counting on them to be excited, as their excitement would help eliminate the creeping sense of discomfort I was feeling. Instead, I realized that even the teenagers - the first to proclaim that they hate school - were feeling unmoored by the announcement. I realized that it was up to me to help them feel secure - not the other way around.