April 5, 2020 – The situation finally broke us. We didn’t think it would because we have never thought of ourselves as wimps.  Maybe we are and maybe we’re not.  Who knows?  All I know is that we needed more space.  Working six inches apart has proven to be impractical.  The hotel was willing to give us a refund for our unused nights.  We were able to use this toward the cost of a larger pandemic hideout.  We found a corporate housing company that is renting us a one-bedroom condo for 30 days.  We moved!  This means that Mr. HomeFree will work from the kitchen table and I have the choice of being in the living room or the bedroom.  Understand the gravity of what I am saying here.

There is a sofa that is at least 10 adult-sized steps away from the kitchen table AND there is a bedroom with an actual wall and door separating itself from the sofa.  We are talking about a luxurious 575-square foot palace.  This is earth-shattering, people!  Sound the trumpets! 

I feel a little guilty about struggling with our other hotel room because I acknowledge that we had a roof over our heads and there are others that do not.  I also acknowledge my own limits.  We don’t know how much longer this unprecedented situation will go on, so we are making an effort to be flexible and learn our personal limits.  This would have happened at some point anyway (even if we had been out on the road) because my husband has been travelling regularly for a while now and I have not.  Having just joined him, there were going to be adjustments and compromises for both of us anyway.  However, it seems that the introduction of a pandemic has sped up our learning process in a big way. 

When we do go back out on the road, if we have to live in a basic hotel room with nothing but one bed and one chair by the window, the difference will be that he will be out all day.  We will not both be in that space 24/7.  That is how my brain is analyzing it at this minute.  Perhaps in three months I will find that daytime separation is not the solution and I am just space-greedy.  But, for now, this Queen is surveying her new domain with relief.