Dear Dad,

This picture is from 2017, and it still makes me laugh. 

My father is 93. He still swims every day, lifeguards at the fitness center pool twice a week, faithfully participates in church and is the lay leader once each month, and never misses Rotary. And he is the poster child as the perfect COVID-19 target. Not only is he in the worst possible age group, he's also had quintuple-bypass surgery and is on a variety of medicines for various age-related conditions. 

Dad did not believe the coronovirus advisories were aimed at him, and too much exposure to Fox News led him to believe it was probably a hoax anyway. Two days ago my brother had a hard conversation with him that included mentioning his children were ready to confiscate his keys to keep him on the farm. Last night I wrote him this email, and my Much Older Sister thinks it might be helpful to some of you, my dear reader(s). Feel free to copy and adapt to your own circumstances.

March 18, 2020

Dad, I'm honestly so sorry about all the disruption to your daily schedule. I know you are not good at "doing nothing and doing it well," so it's especially hard on you. You like activity. 

I had been finding myself kind of flailing around with the lack of structure and activities, so I decided to give myself a daily schedule of things I needed/wanted to do and can do without leaving home or coming into contact with people, and I wondered if something similar might be helpful to you.

In my case, I listed the things I like to do or want to do--knitting, writing, reading, exercising (long walk and time on the exercise bike), playing the piano, deep cleaning several rooms in the house, getting rid of old clothes, working in the yard, etc. Then I decided I'd do at least three things from the list every day. So far it's working. Yesterday I exercised, worked in the yard, and wrote a blog post. Today I've exercised, worked in the yard, written a press release for an event, and worked on organizational stuff. 

I wonder if you could make a similar list? If I know you, things on the list would include writing entries for your StoryWorth project (I can send you a long list of questions), walking at the football field track, playing Solitaire, doing a jigsaw puzzle, working in the yard, Bible study, doing crossword puzzles, going through paperwork in the office and throwing out duplicates, etc. You might want to go through your clothes and make bags of things that you don't wear any more for donation to the Economy Shop, or set a goal of reading the Bible Genesis to Revelation.

I'd also suggest that you'd be great at writing emails to people who might be bored during this time--I know you have at least four grandsons who would be delighted to get personal emails from you, and there's a good chance they might write back. 

You know yourself, so you know what kind of things you might be able to add to the list, but get a list going, and pick three things off of it every day. I plan to make this a habit for the next several weeks, because I want to see my grandson again and if people are NOT staying away from other people COMPLETELY, there's a good chance the virus will come my way and keep me from ever seeing him again.

May I also suggest you not watch Fox News? The information they are spreading is often untrue, and is almost never in your best interest. If you must watch the news, I can give you some recommendations for news outlets (PBS comes immediately to mind).

I love you, Dad--this is our new World War II moment, but we're all in this together. 

Much love, 

Me