Unexpected Surprises
3/16/20: Monday – It was a strange morning. Almost normal, but not normal all the same. I didn’t have any appointments scheduled in the morning, so I planned on finalizing all my personal taxes for my accountant this year. I just needed to scan things into their secure system and let them work their magic or come back with questions. I had to reprint my Edward Jones Consolidated 1099 and noticed the value dropped 10K overnight – What the fuck! I looked up my 401K from Feb to March and it dropped nearly 100K. I had no idea. The traders obviously knew something was up, but I was largely unaware. Decades of saving for my retirement years vanished in a blink. These things go up and down all the time. The last big drop was back around 2008. The best thing to do was just sit tight and not react to the sudden changes. I hope I am right. It is my retirement. If I lose it all, I have nothing to live on when I get older. That’s a fine how do you do for working two jobs most of your life and saving as much as you can.
I only had one appointment on my schedule for the day, a chiropractic appointment, then had plans to train my new massage therapist on some social media stuff for the office. Given the changes that were occurring over the weekend and the recommendations for self-isolation and social distancing ramping up, I was starting to question my day, my week, my business, our finances, my family.
My youngest brother, age 45, started Chemotherapy a month ago due to Liver Cancer- Immunosuppressed. My parents and in-laws are all in their late 70’s early 80’s- high risk population. I have a brother-in-law with something going on with his liver since just before Christmas. In and out of hospitals – ill and I would say, immunosuppressed. My daughter has a congenital heart defect that is starting to cause her some previously unknown rhythm issues until testing confirmed back in December 2019. Her medical workup on hold but is on medication to help. She is a single mom. She is at risk, and she knows it.
The group size dropped from 50 or less to 10 or less overnight. Okay…I needed to rethink my plan a bit. I got ahold of my massage therapist and cancelled our training. I did not want her in the office. I could send her a project to work on at home if she was interested.
I had my one appointment later in the afternoon, but recognized that there was no way I could maintain a social distance of 6-feet while treating. This could become a problem “in the future”, but I was not worried today. Maybe I will need to order some masks for my office after all. Handwashing was going to be even more critical for everyone, not just me.
I received a message from my granddaughter mid-morning. “Can I watch her today as school is closed.” Say what??? Her school announced Friday it was planning to be closed on Wednesday. No communication…just nobody at the school when she showed up. No worries, I could pick her up around 10:45, take her to my chiro appointment, and she could spend the day in my second massage room while I treated my one client for the day. We washed our hands as soon as we walked into my office. We talked about the importance of washing our hands frequently and social distancing.
A call comes in from a client who is also a nurse. She was scheduled to start a program in my office in a few days, but seeing the increasing concerns of the Coronavirus, she thought it best to hold off. New York, Florida, Washington, California, Texas, and OMG CHINA and ITALY!!! Such a sad situation. I cannot even imagine. I don’t even want to imagine. She thought it best to cancel her program as she will be in a high-risk position as a nurse on the front lines and didn’t want to bring that risk to my office. I totally agreed with her, and was contemplating closure myself vs. options to remain open and figure out a way to manage the 6-foot social distancing.
Watch for my blog titled “ The Leprechaun Let Down”
