It is May – finally? already? I am not sure. It seems that March and April both came and slid right by. We have become accustomed to this way of life. Laid back. But with some tasks each day. Summertime, but not really. We have 19 more days of school until it is officially the last day. Life will subtly shift under us. Maybe it will even open up new possibilities by then. We wish for more. Wonder what’s ahead. And draw back unsure of what will happen. We try to find norms as the criteria change. Do we wear masks when visiting grandparents – even when maintaining appropriate distance? Who pulls aside on a trail if you are hiking and see someone? Which hikes will be too busy on a nice day? Will the roads and stores fill up as things relax? When is the best time to shop? How do we filter through all the information floating around out there?
It is so much work to reserve judgement and show compassion – both on social media and in the physical world. We see people playing at a park as if the caution tape is there for fun. We watch buggies clip clop past as they go to church on mornings we are watching online. A roof goes up and 20 kids buzz around the yard like a happy pack of puppies. And we yearn for a chance to hang with our cousins. We see some people wearing masks. Others not. Reading the stream of heated criticism on both sides as I search for something uplifting on my Facebook feed.
It’s not worth it. I should just delete the thing and be done.
But then you see a family you used to know is moving back. Someone shares the best chocolate chip cookie recipe – you try it and it trumps all you’ve tried before. Another posts a video of encouragement. It is just what I was looking for.
So, we go through our life and try to do the best we can with what we know.
What’s up?
Not a lot. We made it through another week. We had things that we looked forward to, like my parents’ 45th anniversary. While we did things differently, I think it was a pretty good substitute. Their anniversary was on Saturday. On Friday, we catered them a meal from Village Catering in Smithville. It is good food, reasonably priced, and local. The girls made special menus for them.
Saturday, mom slow cooked ribs for them, and dad made a salad. We sent them a special invitation to attend a Zoom anniversary party at 6:45 that night. We all hopped on and the fun began. We had each made a clue for an item that they were supposed to find that reminded us of them and why they are special to us. We had things from the dining room table to squeaky rockers to hot sauce to tighty-whiteys. It was a fun process to walk down memory lane. After that, we all ate pre-prepared chocoloate pudding over ice cream (well, Luke’s family may have had root beer floats… it all has the same common ingredient – ice cream!). During that time we just visited. It lasted long enough Madison actually asked to go to bed!
We’ve been going to school. Just realized that this week that our specials (STEAM, art, music, gym) had been posting assignments since spring break in a new location. Prior to break, teachers had been including them with their plans. Now, specials post on “DES Parent Hub” – a convienent location, but not if you weren’t informed of it. It’s fine. We are going to slowly catch up – or at least keep up – from now on. It was fun doing some art projects Monday. And having a family wall sit competition for gym on Friday (Ellie won).
The girls spent a majority of the week planning for the arrival of their American Girl dolls – that they offered to pay for. They made a space for them in the playroom, crafted all the accessories they saw online using resources we had at home (pretty innovative things they came up with), and dreaming of the date of arrival (May 8). They have been BUSY with this - almost obsessively - all week.
When they weren’t doing that, I managed to get them to go on a few little walks with Pepper and I. We found this beautiful bush just dwon the road.
And we have done a few Mandatory Mom Moments:
hiking at Wooster Memorial Park
4-H soil learning
cooking up the challenge recipes from their cookbooks – Madison made Shredded Chicken Tacos (fantastic) and Ellie made Cheesecake Bars with Strawberry Topping (also, amazing)
creating a scavenger hunt for our neighbors (we’ll put this out one day when it is warm for them to do and watch from our deck)
Pepper has been busy doing a whole lot of nothing and a whole lot of mischief.
While this was pre-shelter in place, I find this comic fitting. As a side note, my kids are now addicted to reading the comics every morning. They now know how to follow storylines, identify characters, and engage with the newspaper in a positive way.
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