Here are some ways to pass the time in a coronavirus world

“We will probably kill each other within a week,” my son reported cheerfully, telling me that his family of four is suddenly housebound for the foreseeable future as the response to coronavirus continues to take shape.

For the next two weeks, his older son will be taking college classes online from home and his younger son’s school has been canceled for the rest of the month. Mom and dad are working from home. Makes the kitchen table pretty busy. At least they’re together.

I’m getting used to the new reality, I tell myself, as I walk out to the garage. There is a long, long puddle all the way across the floor. It seems to come from the hot water tank. I close the door quietly and tiptoe away. “The hot water tank has given up the ghost,” I text the condo manager.

Maryam replies, “Remember everything is susceptible to virus right now. I guess that includes water heaters. Kindest Regards,” she adds, thoughtfully.

One thing I’ve learned during these days of living alone. It would be just too easy to go back to bed and wait until it’s all over. So I’ve found a couple of really important things to do every day.

First, I give myself regular vacations from radio and TV news. It’s important to be informed, but the constant repetition of impending disaster is not helpful. If there are kids in the house, they’re picking it all up and worrying.

Second, exercise every day. My grandsons will be studying online and so will I. The YMCA offers a wide range of instructional workout videos including yoga and my beloved Tai Chi. There’s also a chair class for Active Older Adults: ymca360.org.

A real treat for homebound kids and a break for parents comes next week when The Fred Oldfield Western Heritage Center of Puyallup offers free online art lessons for kids ages K-12 beginning March 27.

The lessons, taught by the Western Heritage Center’s regular beloved art teachers, will range from a simple 15-minute “How To Paint A Tree” to 30-60-minute classes teaching the seven elements of art for different age groups. Schedule and lessons at Fred Oldfield Center: fredoldfieldcenter.org.

We’re all washing our hands more thoroughly and often, so I am happy to announce that “Happy Birthday” is not the only song to sing while performing that necessary exercise. There is a whole list of songs that work just as well. My kids tell me that Prince’s “Raspberry Beret” works, but I liked the song better when I thought it was “Strawberry Parfait.” The chorus to Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” should take you to the 20-second mark, and “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” repeated twice works.

But there is help. A teenager from the UK has added a much-needed twist to this important exercise.

William Gibson is the 17-year old inventor of the online Handwashing Lyric Generator, which he says he created in 24 hours. The generator produces a handwashing poster which couples the lyrics of any song you like with instructions for handwashing to that tune. Just input the song title and the name of the artist whose version you’re looking for and the site generates a custom handwashing poster to download.

For younger washers, I scanned the Top Ten Hits list and since the only name I recognized was Justin Bieber, I downloaded his hit, “Intentions.” For myself, I’m delighted to have the old Limeliters version of “Joy Across the Land. “ Seems like a nice, clean thought for now.

We’re building new communities. Out for our walk, we stay a good distance from others, but when someone calls, “How are you?” It has a sincere new ring.

A young relative called, feeling sad and worried. She and her son had been ill (tested negative for COVID-19, thankfully), and her husband had just lost his job.

I comforted her the only way I could think of.

“Just imagine,” I said, “that you’re a superhero – because you are. You know how we say, ‘put on your big girl pants?’ Well, you have to mentally put your Wonder Woman undies on and say to the world, ‘I’ve got this. I’m wearing my Wonder Woman undies, so I’m a real superhero.’ “ She laughed and said she’d try.

I looked online and sure enough, Amazon had a set of Wonder Woman undies. I ordered them for her. We’ll get through this, I thought. Just to be on the safe side, I ordered a set for myself.

This story was originally published March 22, 2020 at 5:01 AM with the headline "Here are some ways to pass the time in a coronavirus world."