During this stay home order issued by the government to protect people from getting infected with the coronavirus, people’s lives have changed. Lindsey and Nick Hammonds have been married for three years and currently live in Crystal Lake. Lindsey is a therapist at a facility that services patients with mental illness and substance abuse issues. Nick works for the city of Crystal Lake as an assistant city manager and he oversees general public services for the city.

Q: What are you doing to cope with what’s going on in the world?

Lindsey: I have been having extra self-care days ( facemasks, baths, journaling) and doing things I’ve always wanted to like reading books, learning languages, and trying new cooking recipes.

Nick: Recently I’ve been doing yard work and fixing things around the house that needed to be done since I have free time now. Lindsey and I have also been playing more video games such as Animal Crossing and Fortnite.

Q: How has the virus affected your work life?

Lindsey: The biggest struggle is possibly catching the disease at work and becoming infected. My work life has changed because I’m an addiction therapist and we can no longer meet in person to do 12 step programs. Since we can’t meet any longer there is a high risk that some of my clients can relapse or something can happen. We have been using Zoom to meet and have appointments but it’s nothing compared to meeting in person.

Nick: My work life has changed in many ways. One way is we had to close down parks and delay the opening of beaches. The access to get into the building at city hall is very limited, something new happens every day, and we have to check up on those employees that were supposed to work at those beaches.

Q: What are your fears about the future?

Lindsey: My fears are economic hardships for my family and others, society and how we’ll move forward, and people dying unnecessarily.

Nick: Making sure I can keep working and saving up money.

Q: Have you had any crazy or good experiences recently?

Nick: I didn’t hear the whole story but someone sent a letter and poem into city hall about the virus and I thought it was really cool.

Q: What are you looking forward to after all of this ends?

Lindsey: I want to go boating with my family, throw a party, and this summer was supposed to be our last summer before having kids so we want to have a last summer.

Nick: I’m excited to go out and eat again, play baseball, and have low gas prices for a while.