We planned an epic adventure for 2020, that was to begin with us moving out of our apartment in late March. Days before that event, the shelter-in-place order was announced. Too late to change course, we carefully packed our San Jose apartment as quickly as possible, avoiding contact with everyone from well-meaning neighbors to shipping staff, and re-homed ourselves with friends in Saratoga.
A brief stay with our friends and their toddler had always been part of the plan. Sheltering in place with them, for weeks, while infections rose around us, caused us to reform that plan drastically.
We all adapted to a very different shape of household. Mom and Dad learned how to work from home. Child learned to call for Auntie or Uncle when Mom and Dad were busy. Cleaning, cooking, dog walking, entertainment, and other household management split amongst us, as we were able, or as we needed something to take our minds off the news.
Somewhere in the early days, a story was published about young people sheltering together as “quaranteams” to fight loneliness. Our group took to the term as if it had always described us.
On our daily walks, our youngest member often demanded we sing his favorite songs. After too many rounds of the classics (“Wheels on the Bus”, “ABCs”, etc.) we dug into memories for more sing-along friendly tunes. I remembered a popular college tune, inappropriate for young audiences, but ripe for parody, and sang out,
We are, we are, we are, we are, we are a quaranteam. We can, we can, we can, avoid COVID-19 Stay home, stay home, stay home all day, except for nearby walks.
And my wife finished,
We use Skype and FaceTime for all our daily talks.
Over the next week or two, three more versus came to us. I learned to play an accompanying tune, then set up a makeshift studio, and recorded “Quaranteam” to remember the experience.
Submitted by Bryan Fink, Santa Clara County – Saratoga.