The New Normal

I left the house today. It was the first day I’d left the house in four days. I had a doctor’s appointment so I had to take Clara to my mom’s and walk into a hospital. It didn’t feel real.

As I walked in, they “screened” me by asking if I’d been out of the country or had any symptoms (cough, fever, shortness of breath) or around anyone who had them. I said no and proceeded to my appointment on the next floor. This screening was poor. I sanitized my hands, pushed the elevator buttons with my elbow and rode up to the next floor. There were signs all over that indicated only one visitor was allowed. Corey didn’t come because he’s getting over a cold (not the Coronavirus based on his symptoms) and was worried he would get kicked out.

It was eerily quiet. Normally the OBGYN and Midwife floor is bustling with patients. There are usually at least 15-20 people in the waiting area. Today there were 5 including me. There were plans and random floor decor items on chairs so that people couldn’t sit by each other.

I was very anxious. We had to take my blood pressure twice because the first time it was sky high. The second time around I had to imagine myself on the beach front balcony from the hotel on our Honeymoon to relax enough to get into normal range. This was the first time I’d even seen someone who wasn’t in my family or on a computer screen in four days, so naturally I felt strange.

And it’s only been four days.

***

On Wednesday an 5.7 magnitude earthquake shook our house at around 7:00am. The biggest earthquake Utah has experienced in 27 years. The rest of the day was spent talking with family and monitoring seismic activity. I worked too, but let’s be real, it was basically a lost day. I’m still having a hard time believing that it happened.

Luckily this isn’t really part of the new normal, but I just keep thinking…how is this all real. We’re in a global pandemic and we’re going to have an earthquake?

I just…I don’t know. I’m mostly just writing this to write it. I feel like these are things we need to remember. I want to remember how we felt and what this was all like…so here it is, not really organized or pretty, but real.