I like to work from home; jeans, no shoes, and a baseball cap all the time. I like to to see my wife and kids often; I don’t get tired of them. And if the reason I was at home were more like a snow or ice storm, while self-isolating at home, would have been a pretty nice week.

On the other hand, I’ve been home working longer days to run our local Habitat for Humanity affiliate, We reluctantly made the very painful decision to furlough most of the staff because all non-essential businesses closed in Pennsylvania and even all residential construction (Habitat’s specialty) was ordered to stop. I’ve been busy handling financial options, considering the future’s permutations, and setting communications strategies that adapt.

Related, I also made a discovery about my eczema flair ups, thanks to my more efficient nutrition plan: One beer over several days won’t spur a flair up, but one beer every day for three days will! The stress of cost cutting probably egged it along. I won’t be having a beer a day any longer; it was probably a frivolous craving in this time regardless.

As comes with self-isolating, the kids are home with us all the time too, sometimes plodding through work from their teachers. I wonder if this is what homeschooling is like. Natalie and I are still figuring out how to juggle work and parenting. Both of our gyms closed, which affected Natalie more than me because she likes the sophisticated gym equipment and the amenities; I can’t blame her. I workout in the basement with just a yoga mat, a couple of free weights, and a hangboard; I put all my gym allowance to belong to a gym with ever changing puzzles arranged from plastic holds. And despite my general dislike for running, I am jogging more often, especially after weighty conference calls.

I paused from reading Found by Bree Loewen for a moment to get through a library book. I am reading a book on baseball, which I borrowed on my birthday, the day Major League Baseball announced that the season would be delayed. So it’s filling a void and a different escape. I’ll be back to Found later this week. Since I last posted I added two books to my list: 1) Troll Wall by Tony Howard (2011,) and 2) My Life in Climbing by Ueli Steck (2018.) Troll Wall was recommended to me by David Price and I am glad that he mentioned it. Steck’s autobiography is actually for a question that I have been pondering for over a year and instead of just diving in and writing about it, I am doing more research (and really looking forward to read it after I finish Loewen’s book.)

Soon I’ll get restless, I suppose. Normally, when we deal with crises or natural disasters, I am donating money or directing some of our gifts at Habitat to tsunami relief or a post-earthquake home build project in Nepal, and my kids make care packages. But this crisis asks us to be inactive, stay at home, and stay away. I never imagined or could have imagined this happening throughout America two weeks ago, even as I read the stories from Wuhan or Italy.

It’s also odd in that we are not looking to rebuild homes or defeat a moral enemy, like the Nazis. We’re dealing with existential challenges to our freedom and our ability to roam freely. I can wait a little longer to go to the gym and visit Mt. Gretna again. I can dash into a grocery story just to get what will feed my family of four. Heck, I don’t need beer or coffee like I used to. Maybe God was preparing Natalie and I for this? This takes a fortitude of a different kind, and it hasn’t gone long enough for me to know what it is supposed to look like.

Although I put on a strong face for my staff, board, family, and parents, I am pretty scared deep down about the short term. I don’t want to get sick and don’t want anyone to get sick. I don’t want to die and I don’t want anyone to die from this virus either. I pray daily (I always have) and have faith, but, like so many things, there is a lot out of our direct control. I am self-isolating with compliance but I miss the climbing gym, and getting in the car for fun destinations on the weekend, dropping into my favorite burrito shop, and hugging colleagues in greeting and slapping high fives when we solve a problem or help improve someone’s life.

I’ll keep doing what I always do, but from home instead, with a little more courage than usual. Stay safe and healthy, my friends.

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