"It's a Beautiful Life"- Genevieve Galvan Frenes

Day 8 – So, last night, we heard the mandate – stay at home.

Parents see the numbers of the victims from the virus — in China, in Italy, now in Spain. And we’re waiting to see when the virus will come to us. Children and teenagers hear the news, but it doesn’t translate the same as it does to adults.

I live in California and on the news, we see the number of cases appearing in different parts of the state. For now, the numbers don’t seem daunting around us. But, that’s for now.

The numbers start to pop up in different cities near us, but not close enough to scare everyone quite enough.

All of the experts tell us that staying home to contain this virus will make the difference in the long run. They say we need to learn from those other countries that waited too long to act. Adults understand, but children and teenagers think they are invincible. They think it won’t affect them. To them, maybe it’s just something we tell them to scare them.

I see the beaches of Florida on television with all of the young adults and teenagers enjoying an early spring break. None of them practice social distancing from our view on our television screen. As they begin to close these beaches, I wonder how many will continue to defy the mandates put in place, not just in Florida, but everywhere in the United States where the local government is trying to avoid what seems like an inevitable outcome.

As a high school teacher, I can imagine that some young adults have anxiety, which sometimes is masked as indifference. From our view, it seems that they just don’t care; however, maybe it’s a defense mechanism to avoid the fear that this reality is actually happening to all of us, not just people in another country, but people nearby in our local communities.

As a mother, I want to protect my children and follow what the governor says. I don’t want to see the impact of this virus on one or more of my family members. I hear of some families losing multiple members of their family in other states, and see how they are dealing with such a loss. It’s unfathomable to me, and yet, many are dealing with this reality up close.

I can’t imagine.

So for today, I’ll keep my kids close and hope they understand how this time to ourselves is part of the solution. Staying home won’t be a guarantee that we won’t contract the virus, but it might protect someone else more vulnerable than ourselves. I hope it can make a difference.

For when all of this is over, and it will be, I know many will appreciate different types of people in our lives – teachers, health care workers, nurses, doctors, firefighters, law enforcement (police, deputies, corrections) , retail workers, truckers, and local business people who were always hard working individuals to begin with. Let’s face it– many of these people were, well, taken for granted.

Let’s hope staying home will bring our past lives back to normal, so we can appreciate the blessings around us more vividly and with a passion that maybe was lost for some.

Stay blessed everyone — remember to love those around you and forgive past injuries or hurts. Our time is never promised (it never has been), but we are hopeful of another day.

A good day.