15 Weeks – At least in Michigan things were slowly starting to reopen. Everything was to be open next week, gyms, and dance schools, etc. Some areas are having athletic trainings and games. After the state dropped to just 75 new cases it moved back up to about 200-300 after things started opening up. That is still really low for us. But, the governor has decided to hold off on opening gyms, dance schools, etc. until the numbers start coming back down again. So we are still in Phase 4.

Watching Florida, Arizona, Texas, California, etc… open their states or never having closed, and their numbers are now spiking to new daily highs still keeps us cautious. The Governor, love her or hate her, has done a good job in getting the infection numbers under control. The economy may have taken a hit especially because Michigan is highly dependent on factory and service workers. Working shoulder to shoulder with little to no protections forces companies to reconfigure their plants to allow workers a bit of space between them.

So, many are still out of work here and others that had jobs through all of this are now being laid off because numbers of people shopping are down. I read the other day that the amount of money being saved in banks has grown by billions of dollars as people are saving more because of the uncertainty of jobs and life right now. But, that also slows us opening up because people are not buying the goods (except food) as heavily as they were before this all started and the factories don’t need to produce as much so they lay off the workers. Who in turn buy less and it all begins again. Hoping this turns around quicker than expected but I keep seeing state numbers saying 1-3 years just to get back to where we were prior to March.

So, why am I talking about all this? We are waiting to hear about layoffs on Monday. Like everyone we are nervous. They have been told it is going to be a huge number laid off and they will have jobs for 1 week after they are told. We have saved some money but looking for a job in this time is not good. It would most likely mean another move and with our son a senior in high school? I cannot even think about it. But, it will all work out, somehow. Everyone else is in the same position or has already gone through this. Just another piece to this whole thing.

I need to make sure I keep using my touchstone word for this year – breathe. Because I can feel myself holding my breath again.