In October 2018, on a cool Sunday morning in Arlington, VA, I walked, with my family, to the site of the Marine Corps War Memorial, to stand at the finish line of the Marine Corps Marathon and watch the runners. The crowd was abuzz with anticipation, the sound of cowbells and music filled the air, and a line of Marines stood ready to present each finisher with a medal. There were babies, and grandpas, and loved ones, and curious onlookers. We met a woman who was gushing that she couldn't keep up with her husband and had missed him along the entire route; it was certain he would have finish time to make them proud. I could feel her joy. I stood there and a familiar feeling washed over me, a feeling I experienced the first time I stood along the route of this very race in 2010, and again several years later when friends were training for the Cape Town marathon, in Lagos, Nigeria, in less than ideal circumstances. There were few places to run long distances safely and those badasses w...

I don't do plants. I've tried a few times but have never been able to keep anything alive. My husband got me a mini rose plant the week of Valentine's Day and I laughed as I asked him if he forgot my history with plants. Fast-forward a month, the plant is still alive and springing new buds; a mini beacon of hope in these trying times. I've always said that homeschooling is not for me. Yet, here we are. Foolishly, I thought that all this time at home would give me a chance to make everything sparkling clean and organized. The joke is on me. On Thursday, I attempted to supervise three children doing schoolwork, while changing and washing sheets and towels, and deep cleaning our two bathrooms. It did not go well, there was definitely some yelling and tears. Lesson learned. There will be no more multitasking while homeschooling. Apart from Thursday's drama, the homeschooling is not going too badly. We established a routine right away, and that keeps us focused and...

Backpacks and lunchboxes get washed on the last day of school. Three weeks ago, we started stockpiling non-perishables. Why? Coronavirus. We are a family of five and we consume a lot; a little extra, just in case, is probably not a bad idea. We are concerned, not so much about getting COVID-19, but about the inevitable disruptions. We want to prepare, not panic. I grew up in Guyana in a time when scarcity was commonplace. I remember the lines for everything - food, cooking gas, toilet paper! I have vague memories of sitting for hours at a clinic, waiting for vaccinations and, I think, powdered milk, or maybe it was another place, another queue. The run on grocery stores that we are experiencing now in the U.S. gives me flashbacks. I presume that the majority of shoppers have never seen anything as widespread as this in their lives, not here in the U.S. anyway. As it happens, we were living in Lagos, Nigeria during the Ebola outbreak in 2014. Social distancing, increased...