Before this week's call for a shelter in place order here in Harris County, I had thought I might be able to squeeze in one last running trip of counties by flying on Southwest to Amarillo tonight.
I figured I could have knocked out the ten counties that are at the top of the Texas Panhandle and I had even gone so far as to check the Amarillo Globe News website to see if there were any discussions along the lines of a shelter in place coming out there.
Nevertheless, thinking the worst on all accounts, I chose to cancel my flight as well as two others on Southwest for the second and third weeks of April to New Orleans and Tampa, respectively, for minor league baseball trips.
However, as I was walking Tuesday night, I've decided that it will now be one of my goals for 2020 - once we're able to move a bit more freely - is to finish that effort of running a mile or more in all 254 Texas counties - with 144 already behind me.
Seriously, though, this effort your reading is to add a bit of levity to the situation to take your mind off of some wild, crazy Facebook comments for a few minutes.
Honestly, some are like a highway accident along the road; you're so tempted to stop and look, but you realize in the end that it is just going to pull you down.
And, in this specific case, sometimes suck your soul out of you over things that may be best to be left alone.
My life isn't glamorous at all. Pretty basic, but real.
My daughter and I discussed a few days ago that in a time that is new for so many, if not all, of us that it really is important - if you haven't been already - to wake up each day and to thank God to be alive for another day.
Work was pretty straight forward today. Had two calls early in the morning.
My daughter had her regular 9 a.m. meeting with all of her class and she had commented to me that all of them were responding well and getting their work done: second graders even!
I know that sometimes many teachers don't get the credit that they deserve, but my hope is that parents will - during this time - have a greater appreciation for what they do (and not just the sometime perception that they're just "babysitters".)
She told me that she really had one of the most encouraging e-mails from a parent that she has ever had in her short teaching career after watching her 9 a.m. Zoom session with her students. I was really excited for and proud of her, of course.
Got out and walked 4.41 miles in Springwoods Village earlier this evening.
And one side benefit of this crisis that we're going through is that I've had more salad in the last two weeks than I have probably in five years (and longer if you don't count trips to Olive Garden).
Basically, I eat out a lot. Almost exclusively. Say no more. I get that it isn't the best, but I never learned to cook more than the basics!
When I do, I have no problem - even though I'm a great introvert - going into any eating establishment and eating by myself. It is just what I do.
I also do not really care to go through a drive-thru anywhere unless I absolutely have to - or am forced to.
So one of the things that I've found at H-E-B is that they really have some decent choices in single serving food, including salads.
I've been going daily to get what I want to eat for dinner each evening.
One day, at about 2 p.m. when I was going to go over, the H-E-B across FM 2920 from me had a line out the door. Like, right, I'm going to wait in that?
I went to Kroger on Spring Stuebner and Holzwarth instead and they have very, very limited selection of anything similar.
Today, I bought a salad for tonight and tomorrow and my dinner for the next four or five nights.
I've got to say that the H-E-B across the road from me has done a really good job in getting the food supply chain at that location back to fairly normal and consistent.
For example, there was all kind of bread at 2:30 p.m. today.
And speaking of H-E-B, one really good read today that I shared on my Facebook page earlier is about how they positioned themselves for the current crisis that we're in.
You can read the Texas Monthly story here.
But are grocery employees putting themselves at risk? Good article from the Texas Tribune here.
(Mostly everybody in the location across the road from me and the Kroger that I referenced do a good job of keeping their distance, but I've had one or two get a little too close for my comfort.)
And this article talks about a pretty cool effort underway across the nation at the direction of greater Houston's own KSBJ and NGEN Radio.
One really cool thing that I got to be a part of today is encouraging - through our Lone Star Christian Sports Network (LSCSN) - Texas private and parochial high schools to join many UIL public schools in turning on their stadium lights for an hour from 8 to 9 p.m. as a "symbolic gesture of hope".
Dallas Christian School responded to our tweet last night after seeing the following story from down in the Rio Grande Valley and became the first private school in Texas to do so.
Read more about the efforts in the Rio Grande Valley here.
Enough from me this evening.
Hug someone who you've agreed to share space with and check in on somebody that might need an encouraging word or two.
Thanks for your friendship.
Let's make Friday and the weekend great!
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