A year ago, my mom's hair fell out. All of it, seemingly out of nowhere. I am so grateful to her for telling her story here.

I used to have really pretty hair. Then - suddenly - it was gone. All of it. I should feel sad. Or angry. Or something. But I don’t.

In early January 2018, my hair started to fall out. Every morning when I brushed my hair, I would end up holding handfuls of it. After a week or so, I went to my hairdresser. She confirmed I was suffering some hair loss, and artfully arranged my cut so it wouldn't show. After another week or so I couldn't hide the growing bald spots.

I bought a hat. 

I woke up this morning to the news that all of California has been put under shelter-in-place restrictions, wherein residents are only permitted to leave their homes for "essentials." This news is understandably jarring for a bunch of reasons, but it poses some additional questions for those of us who share custody of children with another human being who is not, currently, sheltered in the same place.

As with...oh, everything else, this is an unprecedented situation, with no hard-and-fast answers. So I reached out to attorney Cheri Bell of Daprile-Bell Family Law Offices and parenting and relationship coach Graziella Simonetti of Your Parenting Pals to get some guidance on how to proceed in the best interests of our kids.

What issues specific to divorced or separated parents with children can you imagine arising during these times?

The little "schoolhouse" I put together late last night because anxiety = insomnia.

Remember the other day, when I posted that it was okay to handle this in whatever g-d way you want? My way is apparently to become a scheduling beast. Now, to be clear, that doesn't mean that I'm sticking to the the schedule I put together for us hard-and-fast - I've been adjusting daily based on sleep/energy/mood - but it is unbelievably helpful to be able to point to a piece of paper hanging on the wall and say "See that? That says lunch is in ten minutes. Give me TEN. MINUTES."

Here, in case you'd like to copy/paste, is our daily schedule (based on the template that you can find if you scroll to the end of this post - it was suggested by my friend Erin, who is both a third-grade teacher and the parent of a third-grader and a first grader). Please note that nowhere in this schedule does it say "Time allocated specifically for Mom to write her book that is due in one month." We're working on that part. (Holy Jesus this is stressful y'all.)

Folk Rebellion founder Jess Davis has made a career of urging people to find meaningful connections through creativity in this screened-in world - and now seems like a better time to listen to her advice than ever.  Sign up for Folk Rebellion's newsletter here. (And because it's topical, just a reminder that The Big Activity Book for Digital Detox is now available for pre-order.)

The world is suddenly very, very, VERRRRRRRYYYYYY…online.

Yup. Sure! There’s many ways tech is helping us all cope, connect and get the info we need. But there’s also the dark side - which poses all the usual conundrums from tech and digital, but is significantly more magnified in the whole is-the-world-ending? sort of way.

So! Here’s my handy-dandy guide to help YOU manage your tech in trying times, not the other way around.

I'm still out of the country - we're in an area that so far has had no issues getting back to the US, so I'm coming home tomorrow, on the day we originally planned...but I think it goes without saying that I hadn't exactly planned on coming home to this. Our school district - like so many of yours - has announced that it'll be closed at least though the end of April, and if the issues that these closures present for a work-at-home-mother such as myself are overwhelming, I can only imagine what so many others are struggling with. 

Related: How to Keep Your Pets Safe While Driving (huge thanks to Joey from Ms. Parker's class for the submission!)

So let's strategize. Here's a list of ideas and resources for handling this extended period of self-isolating with our kids without going (completely) insane - and thanks to those of you who contributed ideas via my Insta. Keep 'em coming - I'll be updating this list as more arise.

Not gonna lie: I definitely spent a decent percentage of the week before my parents and I left on our annual diving trip obsessively scanning coronavirus-related headlines and buying massive amounts of water. (Buying extra water - as with toilet paper - is completely unnecessary. But show me a mother and a Contagious Thing, and I'll show you a garage stocked with a whoooooooole lot of Dasani.)

I wasn't worried about catching anything, exactly - I was (and still am) worried about some turn of events resulting in me being stranded extremely far away from my children for a duration of time. But the Caymans seemed like a relatively safe pick, planetarily speaking, and I'm also of the mindset that in a situation like this, you collect information and do the best that you can to protect yourself and others, but you also keep on living.

Curious what it's like to travel internationally during this bizarre moment we're living in? I shall tell you: It's weird, but also strangely...pleasant. (I know; I didn't expect that, either.) First of all, airports - and the flights themselves - are vastly emptier than usual, making for a much less cramped in-air experience. There's also this odd sense of camaraderie - even humor - when you travel during a crisis: Everybody knows what everybody else is thinking about, so it's almost like you can communicate in shorthand.