The Ups and Downs of Covid Isolation

I am a creature of habit. I stay organized by having routines.

When I was working, teaching at two colleges, I had to have my days straight. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I taught at a college that was half an hour drive from my house. Every semester, my schedule changed, so at the beginning of the semester, I knew what time I had to get up, by what time I had to get in the shower, and what time I had to leave in order to get to the school in time to get a cup of tea and check my mailbox before my first class. For a large part of “spring” semester, I had to take the state of the roads into consideration, leaving earlier on days where the roads might be snow-covered and I’d have to drive slower.

Tuesdays and Thursdays, I worked at a college that was ten minutes from home. Again, every semester my schedule changed, so some mornings I had to get up earlier than I did on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, because I had earlier classes, and I walked straight from the parking lot to my first class. I took my tea in a thermos. I didn’t have to worry nearly as much about snow on the roads, since I only drove 1.4 miles. I never went faster than 30 the whole way.

Only once in all the years I had that schedule did I forget what day it was and head in the wrong direction, and I caught myself only a block too far and turned around. I’m rather proud of that.

Weekends were for fun and grading papers. How many papers I had to grade determined how much time I had for fun.