I sat, drinking coffee in bed with my teacher husband this morning, wondering whether he will return to work this school year. Wondering how long he will continue to be paid. Wondering whether my high school senior twins will still graduate from high school if school is canceled for the rest of the year, and what will happen with their five AP courses? Will they be prepared for their college courses next year?

I am so sad my boys will likely miss the experience of a senior prom, the fun of yearbook signing, their final Ultimate Frisbee season, the memories of the final days of the final year of high school, and the thrill of walking across the stage as their names are called from the podium at high school graduation.

I wonder what education administrators’ plan is for all of our school children for next school year if they lose out on the last two months of curriculum. How will they catch up after missing weeks (or months) of school? Will they be forever behind, forever trying to catch up with the concepts they should be learning right now? I wish my high school kids had some way to continue with school online the way my older son is doing for college, though I wonder how I would manage to get two boys who already suffer from major Senioritis to actually get their work done online.

I am concerned about all the students who are homeless or food insecure or don’t have a safe place to spend their days, and I wonder how they are doing in the midst of this chaos. What should we do to help them?

I climbed out of bed after reading as much of the news as I could stomach this morning, and tried to shake the forever looping soundtrack of R.E.M.’s “It’s the end of the world as we know it” out of my brain. I walked downstairs and made breakfast for my family, trying to make our world feel as normal as I can.

I think I will bake some cookies today and listen to Michael Franti.

Wash your hands.

Written by Lisa Dean-Erlander, a devoted mother and wife.