My favorite is when Clark calls for the first time during the day (he's a call several times a day kinda guy and it doesn't bother me one bit...except when he calls to shoot the breeze as though I am just hanging out with nothing to do but chat on the phone) and asks "what do you have going on today?" Like.....different from the last 30 days? I'm not sure, I mean, the ORDER of how we are doing things is different today, is that what you're looking for? I'm making french bread instead of just regular white bread...or I may make cookies today instead of brownies. It's a very unproductive conversation. It usually results in my just saying something snarky.
That being said, this week has been a little more exciting than weeks past...exciting being that we didn't do the same things that we have done every other day.
I told the kids to get their morning stuff all finished because we were going on a family outing at 12:30. We drove out to Red Wing Park in Virginia Beach, right next to Oceana Naval Air Station-the closer you get to Oceana the more jets you see flying overhead. It's hard to even do outdoor things right now because we are pushing the 10 person get together limit...we get sideways glances when we spill out of the car. Actually in all fairness we always get sideways glances as people count in their heads...and the suspicious sideways glances happen everywhere, even when you are in the grocery store by yourself. Everyone is strangely wary of everyone right now. It's a little weird. I often wonder if this time of quarantine is going to break society as a whole just a little.
The park was beautiful and just what we needed, fresh air and a little pollen. We started with a jaunt through the wood which ended rather quickly the farther into the swamp we got. It got very muddy very fast. Then we frolicked down the alley of cherry trees. I think I will plant an alley all around the perimeter of my backyard so I can take a stroll through the trees and feel like I am on an English castle estate with sprawling gardens.
I made them stand together and take a picture because I like them. And even though the last picture was staged it accurately depicts what everyone looks like at some point during the day...usually we are angry one or two at a time but sometimes it's the perfect storm and we all need to be sent to bed early.
She's not a quaran"teen" but pretty close. I think Hazel was extra worried that her birthday would be a bust this year. Not only are we quarantined but it was on a General Conference Sunday meaning she was going to sit and watch lots of hours of uplifting messages for two days, poor thing. I am typically not a big over-doer of birthdays (much to the disappointment of my children I'm sure) because thats just a lot of work and money for a lot of people. But I figured I had the time so why not. We decorated, I had a surprising amount of gold already in my stash. I hope she felt loved and appreciated. I cannot believe she is 12. We did our traditional birthday slideshow that has been updated with pictures from all 12 of those years and it made me want to weep and cry with happy Mom tears. We have had some pretty awesome times, this family of mine.
I have tried to encourage the kids to recognize the silver linings in this whole experience. Some days it is easier than others. Spring has sprung here in southern Virginia and it just makes me feel so happy. The weather has been gorgeous most days with perfect temps, clear skies and green everywhere. On our drive yesterday we had the windows down and took in the trees, flowers and wisteria dripping from trees around every corner. The wisteria reminds me of our time in Charleston when we were first married. It is so pretty that I promptly came home and researched how and where I could plant it around our house and then found out that it is super poisonous to people and animals so I guess we will just have to appreciate from afar.
To break up the monotony we did a drive by to some friends. We took them bread and scheduled a reading from the second graders (and a kindergartner and one preschooler who "read" us his favorite book.) Baby girl nearly killed us with the reaching up when we couldn't even give her a squeeze. The social distancing is hard because we should just be a hard pass but when we do these "distance" meet ups it's just torture for the kids. The girls have done a few "ditch dates" with their friends next door, they are supposed to stay on either side of the ditches between our yards but it's getting harder and harder for them to respect that boundary.
I think we have done them a disservice but not watching a lot of news around here. They are having a very hard time wrapping their minds around the seriousness of the situation and why our contribution matters.
Clark and I have been pretty consistent over the last couple of years with our weekly dates. We have had to be a little more creative in the last couple of weeks which is fine because "creative" means cheap. Last week we went stargazing and this week we took the four-wheeler to the field across from our neighborhood. We drove to the top of a huge dirt mountain near a construction sight and sat and watched the lightning storm roll in like a couple of red-necked hill billies. Not gonna lie, it was pretty fun.
Then we came home and laid in the front yard with the kids and Ezra watched the sky for lightning. I feel grateful every day for this little patch of land and sky, makes me think that I would be pretty happy on a farm after all.
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