The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
How some families cope staying at home the pandemic
EAST WHITELAND » “It’s sort of like being home in a snow storm without the snow,” Carl Z. Mudry said, while sequestered in her home, Wednesday.
Along with her husband and son, Mudry, 55, has selfquarantined. She was possibly exposed to coronavirus at the Galantus (snow drop) Gala at Downingtown Friends meeting house on March 7.
Although she “didn’t come into contact” with anybody, she filled out an online county form and called Penn Medicine who suggested she self-quarantine.
“Making the world slow down a little is not necessarily a bad thing,” Mudry said.
“I think what’s weird is the stillness.
“It’s like life is subdued— all those things we take for granted—going to the grocery store, visiting the Malvern Borough, running errands or going out to lunch.
“All those things you don’t think about.”
The freelance gig worker misses the everyday sounds of the school buses.
“I am also surprised by the people who are not taking this seriously,” she said, while hunkered down until Saturday when she has a vet appointment.
She feels sorry for her 20year old college student son who can’t play Frisbee, go to the mall or enjoy the company of his friends.
All three family members are healthy.
“It’s the right thing to do,” she said. “I don’t want my family or anybody else to be sick.”
Mudry doesn’t go out to eat much and is stocked full with leftovers.
“I’m half Italian, there’s a container or two in the freezer,” she said. “Who heard of a small batch of tomato sauce or chili?”
The blogger wonders how those who go out to lunch every day or don’t cook are coping.
To pass the time, she reads, watches British TV, gardens and sews. The dogs are excited that everybody is home.
“There’s stuff to do, but usually we just do it on the weekend and call it chores,” she said.
Mudry said her husband said, “Here’s another excuse for more gardening.”
Mudry talked about current events and the Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918-19, which killed 50 to 100 million people worldwide and 20,000 in Philadelphia, after a war time effort parade.
“You have to let history be your guide,” she said. “It’s common sense.”
Mudry missed lunch and dinner dates while staying at home.
“We’ll do it another time, my friends and family are still out there, we’re all just at home,” Mudry said. “We have the luxury of time.”
Mudry regularly spends a lot of time at home. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011, doctors said that she had to change her life ad limit stress.
So she quit as a “slave” to the corporate world. She now happily blogs and works at home.