With much of the nation struggling to figure out what we’ve got on our Purell-soaked hands, we headed to Cedar Hill State Park, which proclaimed itself “a premier social distancing environment.” To be sure, the COVID-19 outbreak has profoundly affected daily life: no public gatherings, no Broadway shows, no trips to Disneyland, no March Madness, no Masters golf tournament, no late-night comedy shows, no opera at the Met, no Sunday worship services. Short of an all-out lockdown, this is as dramatic a response to a pandemic as we’ve witnessed in our lifetime. In just the past week, “social distancing” has become the nation’s new normal.

Because Jon is a member of his department’s Command Center team, he had to stay late on Friday to discuss business continuity during the crisis. That meant we weren’t able to leave for our weekend until after 8 p.m. But we arrived at camp shortly after 9 and immediately began preparing our late-night Date Night dinner. A steak tastes great even at 10:30 pm!

Like so many other things these days, the disruption of our routine is a relatively minor inconvenience — and a worthy one, considering it’s for the common good.

Saturday found Jon dealing with additional challenges associated with his department’s response, but we were still able to spend time reading The New York Times, enjoying Bloody Marys and brunching al fresco. A rainy evening forced us inside, so we watched Bombshell, a biographical drama about three women who decide to take on Roger Ailes and the toxic atmosphere he presided over at Fox News. It’s no wonder that Charlize Theron, a producer on the film, received an Oscar nomination for her role as Megyn Kelly. Her performance was riveting. So, too, was John Lithgow’s portrayal of Ailes.

On Sunday, we finally pulled the plug on DirecTV. Our nearly two weeks of watching YouTube TV convinced us we could live without AT&T’s satellite service. In fact, our experience was so positive, we decided it was worthy of paying off the remaining 13 months of our contract. And we took some small pleasure in depriving the telecommunications giant of yet another revenue stream from the Garinns.

Amid all the uncertainty of the weekend, we discovered bluebonnets abloom — a sign of spring in North Texas. There’s comfort in knowing that, despite all our worries and woes, Mother Nature continues renewing this weary world.