What day of the week it is now means nothing

[Rorey]

When things were normal, on Fridays I'd generally get up early, as I do every day, drink coffee, grab a quick shower, and go to my local King Soopers store to take advantage of their 2 day specials, which were usually fantastic buys. Today I am up early, drinking my coffee, getting ready to .................. stay home. I do get out every day, but only for a little drive. I don't get out of my van. I don't speak face to face to another human. It already sucks and this is just the beginning. I think it's going to be another gloomy day, and that doesn't help.

Sometimes I think, "I can do this." Sometimes I wonder if I can. And I don't have any right to even complain. I live in a house with a big back yard. I have the Internet and a phone. I can still communicate with family and friends. Some people don't have these things. How in the hell can they cope?

I promise I'm going to try to get into a better mood.

[Roland99]

1. I have to focus to remember if it's one of 2 trash days/wk or recycle day

And we can only irrigate on wed/sat so if my grass is wet it’s one of those two!

[Rorey]

4. I faced the reality a few days ago that I may not water my yard this year

My income is going to take a big hit. I depend on the income from four rentals, and I pay for water on two of them, and also for my daughter's house. It's very unlikely that at least one of my tenants can pay rent. She got laid off yesterday. She actually called me yesterday to tell me she had rent for this month. She struggles and her rent has been consistently late, but she has always paid it. I couldn't take her rent. I told her to hang on to it and wait to see what happens with this thing. Sure, it's a bad business move for me, but I just couldn't deal with worrying about her and her kids having food because I had to have my damned rental income.

Cuts will have to be made. Lawns may die.

[Sunriser13]

7. Bless you for that, Rorey

That kind of love for your tenant and her family is beautiful. Thank you!

I hope your daughter is feeling better about life today, but who could blame her, really? It is truly awful to need "other" medical care right now. Aura hugs to you both.

[Rorey]

11. I'm definitely not good at being a landlord from a business perspective

I rented for so many years, so I know the other side of things.

Back in November, this tenant paid her rent way late. I knew December was going to be a struggle. How would she handle Christmas? I asked her if she generally got a tax refund, and she kind of looked at me with a "It's none of your business" look, and then said yes. I told her if she wanted to, we could defer her December rent until she got her refund if she wanted to do so. She seemed confused, and then said it would be good. I wondered if she would come through, but she did. I got rent for December and February near the end of February.

If things are okay at some point with this mess we're now in, she'll pay me. If they're not, well, I guess I'll be making some changes to my life. We all will.

I just need to do what I can to be able to sleep at night.

Thank you for your kind thoughts about my daughter, and for the aura hug.

[Sunriser13]

16. Ah, well. We can't be good at everything!

What you are good at is being a decent, kind, and caring human being.

Before this crisis is over, there will be many who help, and many who grift. I do believe in the long run, we will all be re-evaluating the importance of quite a lot: friends and family ties, material possessions, and how we treat our fellow man.

Thank you for being beautiful! And you're welcome!

[Rorey]

17. "Stuff" means nothing

I think this situation will wake a lot of people up to that fact.

Thank you for your kind words.

[genxlib]

9. You're a good egg

That made me tear up. Stories like that will get me through this thing.

[Rorey]

12. I figure the longer we can ALL hang in there together

The better our chances of getting through this thing with our souls intact.

[Roland99]

10. You are a true human being. I'm humbled by your gestures for her

[Rorey]

14. Awww, thanks

At times like this, I'm really glad I'm no longer anchored to my stingy, greedy ex-husband. We split the rentals in the divorce, and I can just imagine that he'll be doing some evictions with his, if this thing doesn't get better. But he's a narcissist, just like 45. In fact, he voted for him. which greatly accelerated the end of our marriage.

[mitch96]

2. Since I retired I've had six saturdays and one sunday per week........... nt

[Rorey]

18. I knew I was in trouble when I started renaming the days of the week

"Go see my granddaughter day"
"Come back from seeing my granddaughter day"
"Trash Day"
"TV Day" (Thursday was the night of my favorite sit-coms - now they'll all soon be just re-runs)
"Special sales day"
"Day I usually see my sons and families day because they're off work"
"Get ready for Monday when I go see my granddaughter day"

Those were my seven days of the weeks.

[Kaleva]

3. Being disabled, I often don't know what day it is as they are all the same.

My immediate family keeps me busy and I spend much of my day doing what I'm told. I have to get up pretty early to do the stuff I want to do.

[Rorey]

8. I always wondered why my elderly aunt got up so early

Now I know. It's so she could have her own life for at least a little bit of her day.

[Decoy of Fenris]

5. That's normal for quite a few folks.

Not necessarily the 'Stay home', but a lot of retail and 24/7-job workers simply don't bother knowing what day it is. I haven't known what day it is for almost ten years (Casino work followed by stay-at-home-dad after disability) and some times I struggle with what month it is.

"How in the hell can they cope?" We just do. That's our lives. Many of us don't -want- the things you seem to miss; speaking to other humans, avoiding the inevitable crush of the massed bodies of people. Now, we can go out, do things without having to constantly try to plan our lives around avoiding overcrowded pools of other humans. To us, this is paradise, mate!

[Rorey]

6. I'm pretty much a homebody anyway

But know that I CAN'T go out, is a reality that I have to accept.

Those of you who have been doing this isolation thing for years will now be our models. Honestly, I'm kicking myself for even thinking that I have the right to whine about not being able to go out.

Thank you for helping to put things in perspective.

[Decoy of Fenris]

13. It's all good, mate! Different strokes.

It's a bit of a running gag, at least to third shifters, that Daywalkers (The standard 9-5 people) are a bunch of weirdos that we do our best to avoid. Those particular chickens are coming home to roost, since those of us who are night folks tend to do all of our shopping, bills, et. cet. remotely anyways.

Still, I feel the pain of being -forced- to stay cooped. It's one thing to choose this lifestyle and another thing entirely to have it thrust upon you. I wish you and yours all the best in this new (hopefully for your sake) temporary way of life.

[Rorey]

15. Thank you

I guess we'll all get used to whatever we have to get used to. It really doesn't help to cry about it, so I'm going to do my best to kick myself in the butt and deal with it.

[Aquaria]

19. It sounds like it's the human contact you miss, more than anything

Is there anyone you can do a video chat/conference thing with? Sometimes being able to see a person while you interact, even if it's through a screen, can relieve some of that need for contact.

I'm not an extrovert, though, so maybe that wouldn't be enough to tide you over?

[Rorey]

20. I'm also not an extrovert

I'm absolutely an introvert.

And yes, I use Google Duo to video chat with my kids and grandchildren. It helps a lot.