A new normal?

I
’m a teacher without students, and a sports writer without sports. 
I love both my careers, and they are a huge part of who I am. Even though I experience this same situation every summer, this is different. 
This is March and it is supposed to be busy with culminating sporting events and other school-related activities. We are supposed to be engrossed in the NCAA March Madness tournament, and we should be gearing up for the NBA playoffs. 
We teachers are supposed to be working overtime to focus our students on their academics in the midst of this flurry of extra-curricular activity. We are supposed to be trying to figure out how we will get through our curriculum by the end of the year as we juggle testing and school related student absences.
Instead, we are home trying to figure out how we can continue to provide our students with an education, waiting for direction from the decision makers in Cheyenne, and hoping that our students are faring well.
Spring coaches are hoping their athletes are working on getting in shape for the season, in the event that it happens.
With no NBA, no NCAA, and no high school sporting events happening, we sports-loving folk are craving competition, and I admit to being extremely caught up in a marble race that is going around on Facebook. An announcer calls the race and I was on the edge of my seat to find out if Comet (the light blue marble) would be able to recover her first place spot after falling behind about mid-race. 
For those of you wondering, she did!
The coronavirus COVID-19 has us all swimming in uncharted waters these days, and learning a new normal — at least for the time being. 
Last Friday and Saturday should have kicked off the 2020 spring soccer season, but instead the pitches are empty. 
This Friday, the Dogie track team was to host their home meet, but it is cancelled because of COVID-19.
The irony of the situation for both teams is that this is the first time in three years we have had spring-like weather to start the seasons. For two years, feet of snow covered the track and fields keeping athletes from practicing outdoors and delaying opening contests. In fact, the Speedgoat Classic, Newcastle’s home meet, has not been held since 2017 due to weather, and now quarantine.
We are all impacted, one way or another, by this pandemic and we all have concerns of what our world will look like when it passes. 
As for me, right now I am struggling as I think of all of my students — especially my seniors — and the uncertainty that is surrounding us all.
Will they have the opportunity to play soccer or run track for the last time as a Dogie? Will they get to dance at their last prom? Will they get to walk across the stage and be awarded their high school diploma?
Will athletes be able to participate in off-season camps and training this summer in order to get ready for their 2020-21 seasons?
We don’t know the answers to those questions yet, and we don’t know what the next few months will play out, but we do know that we will adapt and we will find a way through this. 
For now, we all need to stay safe and healthy, and begin to embrace this new normal.