having the dreaded virus in the house....

 Who else has noticed that when celebrities get Covid, they say, "I did everything right, and still got the virus, and it was awful!  I thought I was going to die!  So wear your mask and social distance!"  Am I the only one who saw the irony in it?  

I have so many things to say today, so brace yourself!  We'll start with this:

Today is Friday, it is 25 right now, but woo-hoo, look at those pics of the sun, five days in a row!  We are cracking out the lawn chairs this week!  One child will be off of quarantine next week, but the other was positive a few days later, so that adds more onto my sentence, as I get to stay home for an additional ten days after she is done with her quarantine.  

So Paul is sick, and he actually took a long nap yesterday, which scared the living heck out of me, because he does NOT do that.  He is the Energizer Bunny's human twin.  He is the guy who makes you feel fat and lazy, probably because you ARE fat and lazy, but shh, but just his very busy presence makes one feel lazy.  (Just to clarify, he has never ever said anything of that sort, it's just his very active lifestyle that makes one feel that way, he is a very kind man, and wouldn't be hurtful like that!)  He drags a brick down the road, or a tire, for exercise, he has a pull-up bar in the doorway of his office, with rings attached... (it's not really an "office", it's an abandoned bedroom, with a kitchen chair at the old chalk-painted desk...) he drops and does push-ups several times a day.  He does know how to relax in the evening, but in general, he's not one to sit around and be sick.

He is working from home today, so he's not terribly ill, and I'm glad to see that.  Thank you for all of the kind words and prayers!

The two girls who are positive are doing okay, flu like symptoms, but one lost her taste and smell.  Here's the awful thing:  she took a drink of my coffee yesterday to see if she could taste it, and stupid me, I drank the rest of it!  After I took one sip, I realized what I had done, and oh my goodness.  Maggie from the health department would collapse in shock if I told her this.  She has suggested that the sick ones stay in their rooms, use a different bathroom, have their food delivered to their rooms on paper plates.  Sorry Maggie, you have good intentions, but we are a family, and if a child is sick, they are probably going to feel a bit anxious, because this isn't just sick, this is the DREADED CORONA VIRUS!  Those kids are NOT going to be all alone in their rooms, this is when they need their mama.  

My older girls did offer that I could stay with them, as we returned from Florida and found out that one of the kids here was positive.  I mulled that over for five seconds, but knew I had to be here.  This is part of being the mama, isn't it?  To be here when your kids need you?  This has been a difficult year, no matter how hard we've worked to make the best of it.   

For the kids, knowing we are stuck here at home for the next few weeks isn't too terrible, but for Sonja, she isn't working, isn't earning any money, and has to do all of her classes online, which is more challenging.   Char and Cam don't mind doing virtual school, but the fact that we can't go to the library, or the store, or even for a walk down the road right now, it does feel a bit stifling.  Jonathan wishes he had all of his four-wheelers here instead of at his friend's house, so he could work on them. (he has three old junkers that he works on incessantly, sometimes one of them will actually work!)  He is a social guy, this is challenging for him.  But in a strange way, it's nice, as we are all here together, and no one's going anywhere...

And I know, whine whine whine, right?  There are others who have had it much worse, places where the draconian lock-down measures make ours look like a joke.  What of people who are locked down in apartments, with no outdoor space?  Claustrophobia, anyone?  

Nursing home patients, my heart aches for them, as well as hospital patients who have to suffer alone.  I know God will bless the doctors and nurses who have had to step up and be the only human contacts for so many patients, but they don't always have the time to do these things, and it's sad.

Typical March in central NY.  The pool is still frozen, but look at that deck!  I think the tulips in the foreground just scream HOPE.  (They are fake, I love them!)

Cancel culture...I am fascinated with this.  One lady was forced to step down from a good position at a magazine, because she had tweeted something like ten years ago...something about waking up with Asian eyes.  I think Asian eyes are beautiful, but I probably can't even say that.  

So here's some good news; the certified Mitsubishi repair place has gotten permission to be able to fix the BEEP BEEP BEEP.  Unfortunately, the appointment had to be canceled and rescheduled, as we are quarantined.  The truck, the poor poor truck, has been declared a total loss.  That is such bad news for us right now, as there is no way in HECK we can replace it with what they are giving us for it.  It had 110,000 miles on it, a nice Nissan truck, lots of life left, or so we thought, ha.  Now we have no truck, and how are you supposed to go pick up the plates and cancel the insurance when you can't leave the house?  How are you supposed to go look at a truck for sale, when you can't leave the house?  How are you supposed to go to the dump when you don't have a truck, and you can't leave the house?  

Anyway, thank you all for your kind comments.  It really warms my heart.  And just clarify, feeling-like-a-good-cry spell yesterday was mostly that soul-churning feeling that comes when someone you love so much is suffering...knowing too well that this thing CAN be destructive, even deadly...because you know me, I tell others to stay away from the news, but I have been tracking this virus since it made it's horrible debut in Wuhan, when I found a blog that featured an English guy, who lived and taught school there in Wuhan.  He videoed himself going out for groceries in the middle of the night, in gloves, goggles, masks, the works....he was eventually evacuated to England, and put into an old hotel or school or something, to quarantine for a few weeks...it was scary, dramatic.  Then the virus spread and spread, and you all know how scary it was! 

I have tried my best to discern what is actually the truth in all of this.  What is the science...not the politics, the fear tactics...but you'd have to be living under a rock not to hear all the horror stories!  The healthy young doctors, nurses, who died.  The young people with no pre-existing conditions who cannot go up one flight of stairs, six months later.  The term "long-hauler" has become part of our "new normal".  

So this virus IS a force to be reckoned with, it truly is.  But also true is that for most people, it's like getting a bad cold or a flu.  My own unprofessional opinion is that if it ran it's course, we would reach herd immunity, that most people don't need that vaccine, but what do I know?  

I do know that the God who made the earth and the heavens, who made man in his own image, who sent His own son for our salvation, has numbered the very hairs of our heads.  We don't see the big picture, but all of this is part of a plan.  I know I need trials and temptations, I need to become much more patient, more merciful, free from anxiety...