Fort Worth, Texas
I was at home helping my daughters with their online schooling when a text arrived on my phone.
“Attention, salon employees,” the text said. “We are reopening this week. All employees are required to report to work. Contact your manager with questions.”
My heart sank. It was the late spring of 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic was upending life all across America. The salon where I worked as a skin care and makeup specialist had closed 45 days earlier. Now the owners were reopening the salon.
Leaving aside my safety concerns about resuming in-person work, I faced a more pressing practical challenge.
My husband, Luther, and I have four daughters, who ranged in age from 9 to 15 years old that year. Their schools were operating remotely, and I had become my girls’ in-home assistant teacher.
Maybe my teenagers could handle at-home schooling on their own. My younger ones, not so much.
Luther managed a team of technicians
