Rebuilding Friendship After Social Isolation, by Jeannie Ewing

Ben and I carried our new child, Auggie, into the house, but I was feeling dejected. It wasn’t postpartum depression, just a sense of foreboding. We’d heard that morning that the country was shutting down in unprecedented ways — Broadway going dark, all major sports leagues canceling their seasons, Disney World closing. I wasn’t sure what it all meant at the time, but as evening set in and I settled back into our home routine, I knew I wouldn’t be doing my celebratory outing with Ben anytime soon.

Every time I’ve had a baby, I make plans to get out of the house. Usually it’s for a short stint out with a friend to grab frozen yogurt or a smoothie, but a grim and unsettling knowledge swept over me that this wasn’t going to happen for — who knew how long?