No Gold Medals and Even Less Toilet Paper

The spring soccer season got into full swing this weekend starting with a Denver tournament called the Ice Breaker.  My two oldest daughters were playing, one for a team that’s just starting to get its footing and familiar with each other and the other, Macy’s team, who expects to win every tournament they enter. 

You know what, scratch that.  Topic change.

This was supposed to be a funny post about my middle daughter bemoaning a silver medal from a soccer tournament in front of my oldest who has no medals that don't have the label "participation" on them.

And then today happened.

Today I received a text from a buddy.  I’ve been training for a race called the Bataan Memorial Death March that was to take place this weekend.  I’ve been training for a few months now and where I was once nervous, I was getting excited.  We were due to fly out in the morning.  We had been figuring out travel plans via text for the last couple of days.  This text was different.

The text let me know that the Bataan Memorial Death March had been cancelled due to “an over abundance of caution” concerning the coronavirus. 

“Four months” I thought to myself.  “Four months of training in the shitter.”

I began considering all of the time, and effort and expense I had put into this stupid race.  I thought about the fact that races don’t refund.  I thought about the time I would be spending on the phone with the airline trying to cancel my flight and get refunded.  I thought about the friends I hadn’t seen in a while and that it would now be a while longer. 

It was a real pity party.  That was around noon. 

I went to pick up my kids from school and they let me know that there was some chance that the kids would be doing online schooling after spring break and therefore they would be sending home all of their supplies over the next couple of days. 

We went home and to soccer practice and to dinner.  The coronavirus didn’t come up except to let the girls know that I wouldn’t be leaving for the race.  My phone was on hold with Frontier airlines throughout dinner.  I tried to keep a stiff upper lip, but the day had been bad.

 

Then they said that no fans would be allowed at the NCAA tournament.  Then they postponed the NBA season.  It seemed to be getting real.  My mood went from pity to something just short of concern. 

Then I heard that Tom Hanks was confirmed to have the virus. 

This just got real. 

My mood was no longer short of concern. It became full blown concern.  Time to hermetically seal Betty White.

Here’s the thing.  I’m not a person prone to panic.  But as things are moving along with this pandemic, I’m starting to feel a pinch.  Spring break for the girls got extended by a week.  My office has considered shutting down.  Soccer season is on an indefinite hiatus.  The St. Patty’s day festivities in my town are cancelled.  My daughters have tickets to Spongebob the Musical, that they received for Christmas, are in jeopardy.  It’s a lot of normal, day to day stuff that has been upended quite a bit.

The lesson here girls.  First of all, as it relates to the first paragraph.  Macy, no shame in coming in second.  You guys did great and maybe crying because of the color of your medal in front of someone who hasn’t won one is in a little bit of bad taste. 

Now onto the coronavirus.  Yes, I was bummed out by not being able to compete in the race.  Believe me, training for nearly half of a year only to find out it was cancelled a few days before was tough.  Just like the fact that you’ve waited since Christmas for the Spongebob musical.  But there is a much bigger picture.  It's more important that families are safe.  It’s also more important to help those around us.  It’s important to make rational decisions like washing our hands and keeping our collective fingers out of our collective mouths. 

I hope it doesn’t become more important to wipe our posteriors (stupid hoarders). 

Taking precautions may seem inconvenient, but with a little ingenuity and creativity, we can have every bit as much fun during your extended spring break!