I was looking at the calendar today and realized that if the COVID-19 pandemic did not hit, in ten days, we would have been leaving for Honolulu to attend our friends’ destination wedding. I had meticulously made a list of restaurants and hole-in-the-wall spots to potentially film food videos at, and we had already booked our flights and hotel months ago. All of that has been cancelled. The food list has been de-prioritized in my bookmarks list for perusal. I ended up cancelling my planned days off for the wedding/Hawaii long weekend.

My manager has been strongly suggesting that we take at least a day or two off in April, just to unwind and not think about work given the pandemic. I’m not even sure I’ve ever done that — taken a day off just to stay in the city and not travel. That feels like a very foreign idea to me, especially since it’s not like I have kids or elderly parents to take care of. What would I do all day — just cook, read, and walk around the block?