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!