2020-04-04-email-to-Jane-and-Phil
George! We are in hiding too!
I’ve been harboring anxiety over being at the ACC tournament and flying but today I am 14 days out so hoping I brought no virus back with me! We didn’t start to stay in completely until this week. Consulting with doctor, I gave in to admitting I am fearful about surviving a bout because my lungs and immune sufficiency just aren’t strong. So Phil has given up even going to the grocery and we will order delivered groceries when we get low.
It’s interesting to find how chafed I am not being able to leave the premises when I rarely do anyway. I WFH all the time so this isn’t new– but I know I CAN get in the car and go be amongst the populace. I suppose that is the definition of freedom– you can even if you don’t.
This is more togetherness than we are used to so we are figuring it out. I hearken to the approach you all take where Iris retreats to write and George does as he pleases until you choose to do something together. We haven’t got that figured out yet because I don’t have Iris’ discipline and am easily distracted.
We have learned to use Zoom and are “having dinner” with Sarah most nights, chatting and seeing each other. It’s been a boon. Shea is in the “golf house” but had the company of a young woman who has been a sometime companion the last couple of years and has (grandmother view ) seen her opportunity and seized the day. Shea likes enough solitude to okay music and draw but he doesn’t want to be solitary. You get my drift. As a result, she will likely end this confinement believing in their life everlasting and I don’t think he will. Kind of hope not. She doesn’t seem like his future, but all that is now officially out of my lane.
I feel sad there will be no graduation exercise but Shea doesn’t appear to mind, except there were parties planned that he hates will be missed. He is focused on Chicago like Gatsby on the green light on the dock across the water. We hope for the best. Meanwhile his courses have gone on line so the demand is daily to turn in written responses — new for him and time consuming. A good thing.
I don’t know when we will be back, of course. As soon as we can. Meanwhile, take care of each other and stay in touch! Love, Jane
George It’s been 14 days since our last bit of correspondence and you closed with “I think it’s going to last for awhile” You were/are absolutely right!! Jane and I have “quarantined” ourselves at home along with the the companies we work with. Populous (my architecture firm) is operating by WFH(working from home) and using Zoom as our face to face meetings with other staff. Sarah and Shea are both in Chapel Hill. Sarah is working in that same distance form, Shea is finishing his coursework on-Line. Ultimately we are all currently healthy and without any virus exposure, at least for now. I hope the same is true for you and Iris and I hope we all get this whole disaster over sooner than forecast!!! Meanwhile take care, drink beer, enjoy music, read, and look for sunny days. All my best wishes Phil Ps I’m going to send a message to Lynne and David to check in with them, I do hope they left NYC and went to their Connecticut place.
Dear Jane and Phil,
It is so great to hear from you, I apologize for delaying my response for so long. Funny how the days whiz by here in home exile, or Home Art Residency as I am calling it.
Iris and I went to NYC on March 10th intending to return on March 23rd. We stayed with Iris’s older sister Barbara. We got to visit Andrew, Chié, Chié’s mother and tiny Lily Iris one afternoon. We couldn’t touch her or hold her, but we did get to see, as no photo can show, how beautiful she is. That was on a Thursday. We were already getting worried about being stuck in NYC, so I bought a ticket to return the following Tuesday, March 17th. At least tickets were cheap on Delta.
The next day, Friday, sitting in Barbara’s apartment as NYC slowly closed up around us, leaving us no museums or events to go to, we decided to come back the next day, Sat March 13th. Except for one or two quick runs to stores, we’ve been in our beautiful exile since.
It’s been quiet here. Since his family is now here during the day, Jax is less needy, coming in mainly in the evening to sleep awhile. Iris and I are both reading and exploring the world now available electronically (thank goodness). We’re appalled that Trump won’t act to improve things, especially our supplies of medical equipment and appalled by his rising popularity among low-information or needy people. I guess plagues are supposed to be appalling. Maybe there is a god, after all, an evil one who gave W 9/11 and Trump COVID-19 in order to get them reelected.
I’ve been working on restarting my ID Badge project, which has been left hanging for a couple of years. I’m learning to use new design software and that’s satisfying.
We should Zoom sometime soon. I’d love to see Sarah and Shea, too, if possible. Want to set a time?
love, ge