Your Story: We get to choose how to respond

In last weekend’s paper Daily World Publisher Mike Hrycko invited readers to share stories with us about how the coronavirus has affected their lives. What are your stories? We’d like to print as many as we have room for. Send them to mhrycko@thedailyworld.com.

By Kristin Farris

North Beach / Ocean Shores

There are many nights I have been unable to sleep, worried about our healthcare workers, running scenarios in my mind about myself: “What if I get this virus? What if my son gets it? I had a dream the other night that my son and I were both in the hospital dying of this virus and that I was fighting with doctors and nurses because they wouldn’t let me lay beside him in his hospital bed while he was dying. In my dream we were both dying and I just wanted to lay next to him so he didn’t die alone. It was vivid in my mind. I woke up and cried.

I sit up most nights worried about my older son in the Army. Would he get this? What about my eldest son who works around large amounts of people from all over the world, would he get this? Just about every scenario my mind can think of. It’s been more difficult for me to redirect my thoughts these days or turn them off. I think just like others, I’m doing my best.

Being in the travel industry, we watched this virus as it started to spread from China, then Europe and started to prepare. Soon it was here, and thought I had started to prepare for it in my mind. I really didn’t think it would affect us much in the U.S. I really thought we would get a handle on this before it hit us so hard. I was wrong.

In one week, and before mass quarantines started happening, I personally lost tens of thousands of dollars with cancellations that were indeed necessary to do. The next week I lost track of the dollars that were flying out the door, business wise. Every day, I received emails from hotel partners being furloughed, hotels closing for weeks. It was surreal. Something I have never seen before.

Before schools were closed, and before others really saw it as a threat, we were already witnessing its impact and had already been keeping track of China, Europe and the U.S. toll it was taking.

The week of March 9, was a specifically tough one. By the time March 13 rolled around, I started to feel defeated. I wrote an email to some of my son’s school teachers and posted some of it on my social media. Though some of them didn’t know exactly what had taken place that week or that I had a strong feeling that this was going to get worse. At that point, most people and businesses here weren’t seeing what was coming for us.

Here is some of what I said in that email and on my social media:

“I keep thinking of this saying I heard a long time ago. The saying is, ‘You wanna make god laugh, tell him about your plans.’”

In no way am I trying to make this a religious thing. My point is that I thought this would be an awesome month personally and professionally and then things just happen in the world that are literally out of anyone’s control.

Today, just looking at the month of March on the calendar on my fridge that I filled out a long time ago, it makes me laugh. Our plans are out the door right now and I’m sure other people’s plans are too, at least to a certain extent. You never know when crazy things will happen and how those things will impact you. Then when they do impact you, you’re forced to take life minute by minute because life doesn’t seem to give you a choice for periods of time.

I do believe we will get through this. I can’t prove it. It’s just something I believe. I’m not the only one going through a tough time. Other people have it a lot worse than me and I need to remind myself of that. We all have a lot to deal with in our professional and personal lives. I choose to fight to be better…”

I have a 13-year-old son who is now out of school, along with every other school-aged kid. Although he’s missing his friends, teachers and sports at school, we’re making the best of it. I’m enjoying the extra time I get to spend with him, making the most of it. We only get to have time once. Once it’s gone we will never get it back. I refuse to waste it being upset or somber over things we have no control over.

Though some the things happening are unpredictable and unsettling during this time, one thing I do have control over is the way I handle and respond to this. I have been able to show my son that we can make the best out anything. Life goes on and we need to keep going and doing our best. We do have control of that.

Though some days I stay in pajamas till noon, I am grateful for the time I get to have every day. Before I know it my kiddo will be grown up and gone. Most of us would do anything to get time back later on. I have older sons and wish every day that I could have time back so I could’ve spent more time with them, but it’s gone now. My point is that though life has changed significantly for all of us, we still have control over so many things and can turn it in to whatever we want for ourselves and our families.

I know this will pass at some point. Until then, I’ll do my best to keep my kiddo learning, my family happy and show them that they and everyone else can get through anything by learning and redirecting life when it’s necessary.

Stay strong. I wish you and every family the very best.