It’s a question I’m getting several times a day now, via text and Facebook messenger.
“How ARE you? How are you holding up?”
I’m touched that in the midst of everything everyone is dealing with right now that it’s crossing people’s minds to check in on us.
We spent most of this week working on the physical space at The 443 and getting it ready for an extended closure.
We emptied all the coolers behind the bar so we could unplug them and conserve energy. Any unopened inventory that will last for a while went into the walk-in cooler or freezer downstairs. We got all the booze and wine out from behind the bar and locked up, and got rid of anything that might attract critters or creepy crawlies while we’re closed. My friend Kevin (Craft Draft Services) who cleans our beer lines told us to untap the kegs, keep them cold and turn off our CO2 tanks. All the house plants came home with me.
It was good to have a few days of busy work to do to keep my mind off everything that’s happening.
Now what?
Well, Jimmy has a secure job situation. Verizon is a utility company and therefore considered essential. The trade-off is that while most of us are staying inside to minimize possible exposure to the Coronavirus, he and his coworkers are out in the field every day making sure people have internet and phone service. Including people who have not been entirely truthful about being self-quarantined due to COVID-19 exposure (yes, this really happened to one of his co-workers yesterday). I’m assuming at some point he WILL be exposed and possibly sick, and if that happens I likely will too.
We will have some expenses from the bar that we would normally pay out of our sales revenue – but there isn’t any coming in right now. We have a bit of money coming in from online gift card sales and VIP Patron memberships (THANK YOU ALL!) but I can’t imagine it will be enough.
We’ll be sifting through everything and figuring out what absolutely has to get paid over the next week. We’ve got people looking for ticket refunds for spring shows, and obviously that will be a priority.
Still – I consider us incredibly lucky.
We had an extra fridge in our basement, funds to stock up on supplies and a vehicle to get to the store. We have health insurance. Jimmy’s income won’t be interrupted, and we won’t lose our house. We have each other. While we may lose The 443 before this is over, I’m acutely aware that we are in a far less precarious situation than many people we know.
It wasn’t that long ago that this crisis would have thrown me into a blind panic.
I lost my 10-year-old gift basket business in 2009 after the recession and went from a modest regular salary plus sporadic child support to earning $13,000-$18,000 (a YEAR) for a few years with no child support. My son was a teenager at the time and we didn’t have health insurance and my house went into foreclosure. I was working a part-time retail job for minimum wage, tending bar part-time and grabbing odd jobs while I built up my freelance marketing business. I was on a constant hustle to survive and Nick and I were living very hand to mouth. I shudder to think what would have happened had this crisis hit during that time, so as bad as this is right now – I don’t take for granted for one minute the position we are in.
Obviously, I’m concerned about being closed for so long and I’m scared that we won’t have the resources to bring The 443 back when this is over. But, there is nothing I can do about the Coronavirus situation and the effect on the economy…and there is some freedom in that, freedom to let go of all that anxiety for the time being.
The economy is grinding to a halt and we are ALL in the same boat.
I’m probably in the minority, but I’m not upset at all about sticking around the house for a while. My more extroverted friends are freaking out about social distancing and the order from the governor to close all unnecessary businesses, but… I’m actually looking forward to it.
If we’re being honest, I’m not upset about being off the relentless schedule of running a business for a bit. The 443 has consumed my life for well over a year. While the circumstances are terrible, I’m relieved to step off the hamster wheel, catch up on my life and have some quiet time to think and be creative, not to mention being able to spend time with my husband again.
My home has always been my sanctuary…I even had a blog documenting my DIY, decorating and garden projects at one point. Since we opened the bar its been sadly neglected, mainly a pitstop for sleeping and showering. It’s screaming for a good cleaning and some TLC, and I can’t wait to dive in. I’ve got all kinds of projects that are long overdue, and I made a stop at Home Depot this week to grab a few supplies. When it warms up, I’ll be working in my garden and staining my deck. I only got out there to weed once or twice last summer, so I’ve got my work cut out for me.
This is our backyard patio and garden – there is a lot going on back there:
I’ve got lots of 443 related work to tackle. Rescheduling our entire calendar will be a beast of a project, especially since we don’t really know when we’ll be allowed to reopen. I use a scheduling app called MeetEdgar.com that allows me to save a library of evergreen content and push out to our social media channels, and I’ll have time to load in a lot of fresh new content while we’re on break. I’ll need to get the website updated and come up with a game plan moving forward.
I enjoy writing, but I don’t normally have any time to devote to it. I’ve had a bunch of blog post ideas rattling around in the back of my head for the last few months and our forced closure will give me the time to get them fleshed out and ready to go.
I love to read, and I’m looking forward to diving into this:
We have a lot of music-related books at The 443 and I recently got into a conversation with one of our guests about musician autobiographies. He surprised me the next time he came in with this one by legendary rock promoter Bill Graham. I’m looking forward to getting into it – thanks, Mark V!
I’ve started to cook again, and now that I’ve reacquainted myself with how my oven works (DOH!), I’m really enjoying being back in the kitchen. Being able to cook actual meals and sit down and to enjoy them feels like such a luxury after a year of eating standing up and living on leftover scraps from the cafe and late-night take out.
Maybe I’ll even get my wildly out of shape ass reacquainted with the elliptical machine gathering dust in our home office? Who knows…the possibilities are endless.
See you soon,
