My Hall Tree

My hall tree tells a story of life in the time of COVID-19.

You may recall my post of March 4th, where I extolled the joys of our Sounders season opener.  The match was scheduled for noon on Sunday, March 1st. We rode the light rail into the city early, so we could have breakfast at The Market.

 At the match, which the Sounders won, we met up with Jill and Irene. We were there with 43,000 other soccer fans, all having a great time. 

Later that day the family all met up at a restaurant to celebrate Jill's birthday

That all seems like a world ago now.

Before the March 1st Sounders opener, I dug out all of our supporter gear from where it had been stored in the guest room closet. I hung up the scarves we would use for this season, and loaded up the stadium bags and the hall tree basket with all of the hats and gloves and ponchos and other paraphernalia we would need for the winter into spring home matches, We were ready to go.

That first week in March, the corona virus began to spread. The first case in the US had been discovered January 21st in a man living near Seattle who had traveled to China. He was  hospitalized. But then the virus erupted in a long term care facility and the first death occurred February 29. Warnings began to circulate that the virus was now in the general population and care should be taken to wash hands and not touch your face, but life went on as normal. 43,000 people attended a soccer match in Seattle. 

The second Sounders match was scheduled for Saturday March 7th. There were warnings but still no restrictions. We debated if we should go, but decided we would use precautions but go as planned. There were 30,000 people at the stadium. We used latex gloves on the light rail, washed our hands and wore warm gloves at the match, and cleaned everything when we got home. 

By March 11 we were in lock down. On March 12th schools were closed. On March 15th bars, restaurants, coffee shops, and all social gathering spots were closed. Sporting events were postponed or cancelled. Our Sounders season had come to a halt.

By now all of us have had similar experiences. The history of COVID-19 is being written. We have no idea what or when the final chapter will be recorded.

Several weeks ago, as I was dusting during another Monday house cleaning day, I looked at the hall tree, sighed, and started taking everything down. You can't put your life on hold. You have to move on.

But I didn't stuff it all back in the closet. It is all just folded up and stored in the basket. We move on, but with hope.