Social Distancing Diaries: Day 369

Dear Diary

What I look like when I help the kids with homework.

8:30am: Plumbed the mysteries of the sock drawer. Tom is very helpful around the house. He even puts my clean socks away into my sock drawer. Some time ago I showed him my System of sock organization. From left to right I organized my socks by color and type. Rather than being a Type A personality, this merely reflected the practicality of being able to pick out the right pair of socks in the dark. Post-COVID however, my sock wearing habits have changed. Tom still put my clean socks away using the old system. Being the consummate Conflict Avoider that I am, I quietly rearranged my socks each week to fit my current system. This morning I noticed that Someone Else had obviously rearranged my sock drawer. I could tell that effort had been made. So I removed the drawer and proceeded to RE-rearrange my socks according to MY system! As Tom watched. Overcome by curiosity, he desired an explanation. So I explained the differences between the No-Show socks and the anklet socks. And why they needed to be separated. I can only wear the No Show socks when I’ll be wearing shoes because the socks don’t stay on my feet if I wear no shoes with them. And I certainly don’t wear them with my running or walking sneakers, so they can’t be mixed with the anklet socks. I often need to grab the anklet socks in the dark as I head out for my run. It took a bit for him to wrap his brain around the fact that I wear socks that don’t stay on my feet. But that’s just part of a larger discussion of the total impracticality of women’s fashion and I love him too much to do that to him.

Vulnerable Moment: This is my actual sock drawer. It is organized by type.

I’m a little embarrassed about revealing the inner workings of my sock drawer. Please assuage my shame by sharing your idiosyncrasies.

I spent a good part of my day sewing. That translates to a good day!

After lunch I helped Eden with her Biology again not because she particularly needed me to explain anything to her but mainly to help her with the typing. In In-Person school she receives accommodations to assist with typing and note-taking. In Online school I am that assistance. I know the technology is helpful as far as tools go, and online school would not be possible without it, but writing on a computer screen is challenging! Throw 46 year old eyesight into the mix and woah! I’m forever asking the kids to turn up the brightness on their devices when they are showing me something on their screens. And asking, “Can you make that a little bigger??” We have our fair share of battles over the screens! Kudos to them for being able to tolerate looking at a screen all day.

5:45-6:15pm: Does anyone need to take a nap after dinner? No? Just me? I can’t tell if it’s a food coma or that fact that I finally sat still, but that’s twice this week. I considered another cup of coffee, but here’s the (scandalous) thing: I switched to decaf! I add a wee bit of regular to my grounds, but mostly decaf. I blame this on the pandemic. A few weeks into the lockdown I noticed those pesky heart palpitations coming back. I’ve gotten these at other particularly stressful times of my life, so I knew it was stress. I exercise, eat mostly right, blah, blah, blah. I also knew if I saw my doctor about it the first thing I would be told was to cut out caffeine. So I did. My ticker is happier and I don’t mind decaf. No more caffeine sweats! I find it’s the ritual, warmth, and taste of coffee I really crave, not the caffeine. Now I want a cup of coffee…

6:15pm: Speaking of helping with homework—shout out to Grandpa Ginder who has taken over math homework help for Lily! I’m not sure how I got squeezed out of that one, but I’m not going to ask too many questions either. As it stands, every evening Lily goes next door and Grandpa helps her with her lengthy math homework assignments. There is a special place in heaven for that man.