2021 in a Letter

 

2021, what a year… we just rolled with it! 

2020 ended with Gloria getting Covid from her mom, Anita, on Christmas Eve taking Anita home from the hospital after her positive Covid test.  Thankfully they recovered without any major illness, but we had to have a socially distant Christmas here at the house and cancelled all our usual Christmas plans with the rest of the family.  We had a home plan in place in case anyone of us caught it and it worked. Neither Baylor nor I caught it from Gloria.  Her mom recovered at her home and had plenty of help there.  Both recovered by New Year though Gloria still issues with tastes and breathing difficulties. 

I am still working from home and Gloria is still working in person at the depot, so I guess this is our new normal.  Since I do not know when I will be going back to the office, I bought a desk and set it up in the dining room.  That just moved me off the dining table in the same room to the other side of the room.  But I have an office window and have it decorated with many plants, candles, a disco ball, and a rainbow prism.  It is quite nice. 

It finally happened; our son is a teenager as of November 16^th.  But backing up a few months, Baylor finished sixth grade going four days a week in person and one day working from home.   It worked out well enough though he said he preferred the two days in person, three days at home better.  Of course, he did.  The end of the school year came, and we all looked forward to the summer off.  

June was quiet, which lead into a tumultuous July and August.  The middle of July, Anita was taken to the hospital due to not feeling well and very high blood pressure.  She had several tests done to figure out what was causing it and experienced a mild stroke during one procedure. Her kidneys finally failed completely, and she was put on dialysis at the hospital.  After about two weeks in the hospital, she was moved to a rehab.  On August 14, she was released to our home which is where she will be staying for the foreseeable future.  She is not able to live alone in her condition and dialysis is only 6 miles from our house and would be 35 miles from her house.  It has been a shakeup in our lives but the right thing to do for family.  She has dialysis three days a week which is hard on her but has actually helped improve several of her other issues by taking the excess fluid off of her heart and lungs. 

With everything going on the end of July/early August, our planned camping vacation with my parents was cut a bit short for Baylor, his friend Kartikey, and myself.  But we made the best of the time we had playing in the lake and having as many fires as we could build.  We have plans for camping in June 2022 and I am looking forward to the new park we are heading to. 

Jake, Roxie and Grimm are all doing so well that we decided to add another cat to the mix to make it even boys and girls.  We brought Evelyn home the end of October and she is just a darling addition to the crew.  Not everyone is thrilled to have her, looking at you Grimm, but the rest of us are loving her up.

2020 in a Letter

 I said in March when I was picking up Baylor on his last day of in person school in fifth grade that it felt like we were in a movie. And nine months later, the cameras are still rolling! 

I was sent home to work from there the same day Baylor was released from school, March 13th. But before that, the year started out with Gloria’s mom living with us again, but this time because she broke bones in both feet the weekend before Christmas and could not be home alone to recover.  Gloria’s dad was moved to a rehab up closer to where they lived, but her mom was down here with us until March 11^th. Her dad came home March 17^th but sadly passed away May 1^st due to declining health issues. He was the local plumber and knew everyone, but due to the pandemic we were only allowed 10 people at the funeral.  Gloria’s mom has an amazing support network and is doing well staying at her home.  We see her as often as we can. 

We did go to the beach for a short vacation in June and ended up cancelling our usual camping trip with my parents because in February my dad started his 2020 journey of replacing both replacement knees twice!!!  He spent a lot of this year recovering from one surgery and preparing for the next one.  Thankfully, he was able to get them all done, the infections cleared up, and stayed away from catching covid-19 as he went in and out of hospitals and rehabs. 

I cannot believe I am going to say this, but I am thankful Baylor had his Xbox this year.  It was the main way he was able to talk to and interact with his friends since March.  The last months of school last year was a big change for everyone and understandably, schools were not prepared for teaching and learning from home.  This year, his first year of middle school, started out all virtually and in October, he moved to two days in person hybrid learning.  While it is still difficult to juggle everything, he is doing well.  We do not have an office in the house so we both share the dining table to work and learn from.  Gloria is looking at positions where she can also work from home so it will be a fun time at the table with all of us working together!!!  2020 was good for family time! The pets have really enjoyed us being home all the time and I wonder what they think on the rare occasion when they are left alone.

I am glad we will soon have 2020 behind us.  I don’t think any of us will forget it! Merry Everything, Happy Always and here’s to 2021!!

Rehoboth Beach 2019

After school was over and Summer Camp started, Baylor and I headed to the beach to spend some time with family.  My parents bought Baylor a travel bag for Christmas and I know he was not impressed with it at that time.  He did not know what it was for. But after vacation, he was pretty impressed with having it.  

As I was packing the car I noticed someone, or some critter, had helped themselves to the first ripe raspberries.  Argh! 

All loaded up and ready to head south!! 

DiAnn rented a new house this year but it was five blocks from the beach.  It was also much newer, bigger and had more than one bathroom for everyone!  And a nicer porch, which Baylor promptly rested in. 

Fun with Baylor's tablet game.  

I brought our bikes with us because I knew there would be no way I would be able to walk to the beach and I am not paying that much to park there either.  It was an easy ride and my knees could handle it.  And when we rode back to the house, I had to stop short and fell off my bike.  Thankfully, I broke my fall by hitting my head on the side of the house.  I had a helmet on!! 

Time for his fun in the water.  He can just run and jump and play in the surf for a long time.  

Sandy selfie 

Of course he was really excited for the virtual reality experience.  He would live in here if he could.  

And if he could live on ice cream at the beach, he would probably do that too.  

Our abode for vacation.  We went on the second half of the week so there were not as many people there as the first weekend.  So it was much less crowded and more quiet.  

  

I was usually up first and made the coffee.  And then went out on the porch to enjoy it.  

He did not sleep out here but fell back to sleep for a bit after joining me on the porch.  

This place had two TVs but we did not watch it much.  But Thursday it was cold and raining so we found a movie to watch in the afternoon.  

Friday we rode back out to the beach.  Right before this I had fallen off the bike, just standing there.  

Somewhere in my piles of pictures from my past, I have a photo of me in the same shop wearing a similar hat.  Since we now know we are Scandinavian, it feels appropriate. Though Vikings never really wore helmets like that!  

Lunch at Sammy's, his favorite place to eat at the beach.   We talked to Sammy every time we were in for a meal.  

The sky was better today but the waves were really rough.  The lifeguards were not letting anyone go out past the breaking waves, which were hard to play in. 

But he tried and played in the sand and at the edge of the cold water.  

Happy with his ice cream.  

He spent most of his quarters on Plinko this year.  He was addicted! 

Native scallion on the beach today 😃

He did not want to join anyone for dinner so we called out for Grotto!  It was delicious.  

Morning coffee selfie to send to Mom.  

Friday morning we went back out to the beach and he was worried it would be the same conditions as yesterday so he did not want to bring his swimming stuff.  He was a bit disappointed when he found a much calmer sea today.  But the air temp was still pretty cool and the water was still very cold.  He was happy to play in the surf again.  

Followed by more ice cream 

And more VR.  

And more Sammy's food 

Where he learned he loves gyros!! 

We went out in the evening and the sky was lovely!  

This one made it to the bathroom wall photo gallery.  And my phone's wallpaper.  

More ice cream 

Saturday morning we rode our bikes down to Sammy's for breakfast. 

And then all along the boardwalk, stopping at the north end of the beach to look of shells.  It was a gorgeous morning for bike riding and shell hunting. 

Some of our haul 

On our ride home, I was buzzed by a dragonfly.  We had to hurry back to the house to help clean and to pack up to leave.  But it was fun riding on the boardwalk with Baylor!  

And many hours later, we were home.  

Where a ripe raspberry or two were waiting for me.  

And on my way home from getting groceries, so was the train.