There are events in everyone’s life that act as milestones and punctuation marks both, activities that remind you that time is indeed passing. This year, however, it’s all be thrown on its head and it’s hard to remember what month it is, let alone what day of the week. I find myself constantly saying “Hey Google, what’s today’s date?” or “Alexa, what day is it?” or glancing at my menu bar to see that it’s Wednesday. Oh, no, it’s actually Thursday. See what I mean?
This is 10x weird for my children, however, because they are in a point in their lives when they are expecting a highly social life. Parties, meeting up for movies, concerts, gaming with friends, not to mention school and work. Fortunately that’s stabilized a bit after six months so that Ashley is in the groove of her online class schedule at DU and Gareth is (mostly) enjoying the working life as a full-time employee at Christie’s Sports in Denver. K-, my high schooler, is having a harder time because she’s always been social and now her social circle has basically shrunk down to two people and a couple of digital friends scattered around the United States. She’s up late every night playing video games and/or FaceTime while watching Netflix, but it’s not the same.
Between us, time is passing in somewhat of a blur and it’s hard to remember what’s happening on any given day. Yes the seasons are changing and there are events like Presidential debates and the upcoming Halloween, but overall I suspect we’re not the only people in a veritable 2020blur right now.
Which reminds me. Halloween. For the first time ever I think I’m going to just leave the house dark and not hand out candy to my neighbor children. My area doesn’t have lots of little ones on a good year of trick or treating – maybe 8-10 groups total – but I have a sense that this year is going to be defined by very small home parties with two or three related families and not much door to door 
activity at all. I’ve seen “candy chutes” for handing out candy while still social distancing, but that just seems daft and I know that leaving out a bowl with a note to “Just Take One!” is an invitation for the first antisocial kid to dump the entire thing in their bag.
Disclaimer: I was that kid when I went trick or treating years and years ago in Long Island with my cousin David. We would chuckle with glee when we saw bowls of candy and snag massive handfuls rather than the “one piece” suggested. Kids, ya know. Or maybe that’s why I grew up to be a supervillain. Not sure. 🙂
Then there’s Thanksgiving next, which is always a bit of a mixed bag because Linda and I have always swapped holidays year over year and I have no idea if it’s my turn with the kids or hers. Thanksgiving always feels like a holiday for cheer and celebration with a large group but this just isn’t the year for it so we’ll see if it ends up being a turkey burger and fries while watching a horror film on TV sort of meal or not.
Now, how about you? What are you doing to mark the time and keep track of the passage of days, weeks and months? How are your kids handling this weird introverted year without even small social events and weird experiences with any sort of social activity like trying to eat out or attend an outdoor concert?