One way to help keep your family safe from the coronavirus: Make the ask

I am, by nature, someone who loves nothing more than getting stuff done. And if I'm the only person who can do it, no problem—I'll make it happen. Seventeen years ago, though, when I had Max, I had to come to terms with the fact that I needed to rely on other people to help Max: doctors, specialists and especially, therapists.

Over the years, I became an expert at asking for what Max needed, whether it was extra assistance at school, devices and equipment, getting him into a program, accommodations at an event or basically, anything that would enable him. I've basically become an expert at making asks, as I'm sure many of you have.

Cut to this past weekend, when we were in Cape May, NJ. There have been relatively few cases of coronavirus there, and not many people were wearing masks. We were, except on the beach where it was uncrowded and it was easy to seriously social distance, breathe in the ocean air and forget for just a little while that we are in the midst of a pandemic.

In our area, stores and restaurants are doing curbside pickup but a lot of places at the shore were having customers walk into store to pick up things. At least staffers were in masks and gloves. I called Britton's Bakery, which has the best apple fritters and cinnamon buns. I explained that we weren't going into stores. The girl on the phone apologized for the lack of curbside. I asked if I paid by credit card ahead of time and stood by the back door and waved, would she bring a bag out and leave it on a chair?

Score!

And that's how it went. Sabrina had been wanting a beach cruiser bike, and we found an old one for sale on a local Facebook buy and sell group; the guy left it curbside for Sabrina to test out, we paid by Venmo. Then I needed steel wool to get rid of the rust on the handlebars. I called a local hardware store; if I paid for it over the phone, would they walk it out to me? Yep. When we ordered some sandwiches, a staffer agreed to place the bag in our trunk.

Cases of coronavirus are going down but obviously, social distancing and being cautious is everything, especially if you have children who are at high-risk for complications. I continue to order groceries online. Our state is opening up all stores on June 15, but I'm not planning to take our children to them anytime in the near future. Hair salons are opening June 22, assuming cases continue to decline; not going there, either. This means I'm going to have to actually use the hair cutting shears I got on Amazon on the boys—still getting up the nerve!

And I'm going to keep right on making asks. I hope you're cool doing the same. With protests happening, it seems like there's going to be a spike in the coronavirus. And as summer evolves, I'm sure people are going to get more lax about social distancing and wearing masks. It's up to us to do whatever is within our power to keep our families safe. As parents of children with disabilities, we sure know a thing or two about doing what we can when situations feel out of control.