Thursday night as I was reading in bed, my husband says to me, “Michigan schools are closing until April.” Even though I work at a school, it didn’t really register. We were about to go on Spring Break and my mind was already there.

Friday morning, I woke up to text messages and voicemails that we would not have school that day, and we would not be returning until April 6. At the earliest. Right. Husband’s mumbling about a news article now makes sense.

I posted more messages to social media and the school website (as part of my job), made a quick coffee and headed to school early, anticipating I’d need to help craft an all-school email. When I got there, the sun was still rising. My office faces East and connects to what was once I believe a dining area. Golden sunlight shone on the peach walls. The world was waking up, ready for a brand new day.

It’s one thing to walk through empty school halls on a holiday or a weekend. I’ve done it tons of times before. My mom was a school teacher and I often went with her after hours and hung out while she got work done. And of course for this job, when I’m on a deadline or during the summer. I can tell you that it’s a completely different thing to come to school when school is not in session vs. coming to school when kids are supposed to be there, but they’re not.

I’m not panicking quite yet, but I know we as a country and as a world, have a long way to go with this crazy virus. I’m not really sure how I feel about it, I’m riding the waves right now. But here are the photos I took that morning in the few minutes that I wandered the halls alone.

Be well, my friends!