It is March 20, 2020, one week before Little Chirp’s 12th birthday. Little Chirp and I talked yesterday about what we would do next week for his birthday. He asked if we can cook something special. Of course we can. A happy thought in my head is the planning of a birthday party for him when things go back to normal. I would like to have a locally owned business day birthday party. We would start the day with lunch at one of his favorite locally establishments. Then we would go to some form of locally owned entertainment, likely Speedy’s. Last we would go to a locally owned cupcake or ice cream place.
Yesterday, I started my work day at 5 AM, and I wrapped at 5 PM, I am learning to set boundaries. I had one super important task to do, but spending time with the birds is also super important. I got up crazy early this morning to knock out that super important task. My work productivity puts me in a happy mental state.
What is new in today’s news: The latest is finally more on a local front. I feel like we need more LOCAL and ACCURATE news. This could be me tuned to the wrong station, but I have FoxNews on most of the day, except during the normal local news times. I have yet to miss a local news report, and I find that they are just reporting what is on the national news.
Locally, the governor has issued an executive order closing dining in at all bars and restaurants, and ordering everyone to avoid gathering in groups of more than 10. I am not sure what is magical about the number 10. Additionally, on the local front, testing for the virus has begun in Houston. So far, prior to the drive through testing being available, there have been 10 reported cases in Houston.
Globally, the news is that the governor of California has put the residence of California on lock down. Everything that I know about a pandemic and the Coronavirus itself indicated to me that this would happen. Now it has happened. I am still expecting the same order to come down from the Texas governor.
Challenges with present situation: The economy continues to be my biggest concern. This sentence stands true again today. In light of the Texas governor’s news, my sister’s restaurant will be open for carry out only starting tomorrow. Yesterday was the first time that I have cried since our “New Normal” began. Walking into my sister’s restaurant is the only place on Earth that gives me that feeling of being at home that walking into my parent’s house gave me when I came home from college to visit.
I am now definitely worried about my own livelihood as well. I think that there is a high likelihood that I will lose my job, and there will be a period of time when no on in my industry is hiring. For those of us in the energy sector, it is a double whammy with lack of consumption due to the Coronavirus and a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia.
This time of March is typically spring break. Everyday, a Facebook memory pops up making me miss something. Yesterday’s being the hardest, as I had checked into Adobe Verde, which is my sister’s restaurant. I actually remember walking in that day, which was NINE years ago. I was under a lot of stress, and I had taken the boys to see my sister during spring break. She made everything better. I hate frozen drinks, but she made me a Coyote something or another, a drink that she invented, that was sooo good.
Update on the Birds: While online learning does not begin until Monday for our school district, we kicked off homeschool today. I did so because Little Chirp was so down. I thought that his mind needed something to do. I was right. Little Chirp’s demeanor made a huge turn around when I presented him with his home school assignments. I think he likes home school.
Little Chirp’s curriculum was completely made up by me and my Google searches today. He read 9 chapters of a book that he was already reading, and he aced the multiple choice test about the first 5 chapters that I had downloaded. He loved the complicated math problems that I gave him. He likes story math problems that are challenging. For science, I had him read an article about a scientist that tried to promote the concept of handwashing and was met by descension from the medical community. I gave him a few writing prompts to complete after reading article. I was impressed with comprehension and ability to effectively summarize the ideas in the article.
Most importantly, it felt good to see him smile.
I cannot Google my way into a curriculum appropriate for Brainy Bird’s academic level, so I had him work on his end of year computer science project. He had no objection to this! I liked that Little Chirp sat in on Brainy Bird’s presentation to me at the end of the day. I had Brainy Bird present to me the requirements of the assignment, his idea for the assignment, his detailed plan to complete the assignment, and some initial prototyping. Funny, I was trying to teach him a corporate lesson about over committing. The ask was way more than a day of work. He was done on time, and he made it seem effortless. I miss our Tomball ISD educators already. It is incredible how much he has learned in high school, and he is only a junior.
Things I am grateful for: I am grateful for my job, which keeps me super busy during the day, which definitely helps me cope. I am grateful for my writing. I love to write, and writing definitely helps me keep my wits about me.
I am grateful for my health.
Shout out to a friend: I will not lie, today’s shout out was easy to pick. Today’s shout out goes to my little sister, better known in my house as Aunt Roni. I imagine that being my sister is not the easiest life situation.
Roni and I have had our ups and downs, but certainly more ups; we have so many amazing memories together. The happiest memories are the simplest:
I remember going with her by ourselves to Six Flags in Dallas one Spring Break. We were standing line together, and she hugged me and said that she loved me. Later that afternoon, we won a giant teddy bear.
I remember dressing up for Halloween with Roni and taking off with Melissa and Chandra to go bungie jumping. Bungie jumping was half off if you were in costume. We were in high school, so we had to fake the parent waivers. We came back with t-shirts that said, “Bungie jumping – safer than sex and almost as good.” We thought we were so cool. It is truly amazing that we both survived childhood.
I remember my sister holding Brainy Bird for the first time the day that he was born, the day that she became an aunt; I remember the look of love for him on her face.
My sister is the most amazing aunt that anyone could ever ask for. She has always been their for my boys, and she loves them as if they were her own children. When Mom was dying, my sister watched Little Chirp for us, while my then husband took Mom and Brainy Bird on a cruise. This vacation meant the world for us. While we were making precious memories, my sister was at home taking care of Little Chirp, who was just 6 months old.
Roni shares Brainy Bird’s extraordinary level of intelligence, and think that is why they have such a special bond. They have a deep understanding of one another. My sister values kindness, work ethic and intelligence over appearances and money, just like Brainy Bird.
Roni is a protector of animals. I have lost track of how many cats she has rescued over the years, and now she has a rescue dog too. Not only does she care for the cats that she adopts into her own home, she captures the stray cats in her community and takes them to the vet to get checked out and fixed, so that they do not produce more stray cats. Then she gives them love, and sets them free. There are many cats that want to roam free; they do not want to be house cats. These cats are huge contributors to controlling the rodent population.
My sister runs a restaurant, Adobe Verde in Gruene (New Braunfels), TX with incredibly delicious Tex-Mex. She gives so many kids in New Braunfels their first work opportunity. She employs many children, who have parents that we grew up with or parents that we used work with back when we both working at a manufacturing plant.
My sister has never been afraid to blaze her own trail in life, and she has done quite well for herself. She is a sister, an aunt, an employer, an entrepreneur, an accountant, a chef, a wife and a mother to my beautiful nephew, Hewey. She makes it all look so easy. Her entire life she has excelled everything that she has put her mind to because of her heart and talents.
I love you sis! <hugs>
Positives with present situation: The biggest positives over the past day have been Little Chirp’s home school work, and I cooked another successful meal. This time it was a pot roast. Okay, Brainy Bird actually cooked the pot roast, but I provided solid guidance, and it was one tasty pot roast. So tasty, that Little Chirp knocked off the leftovers for dinner. Eating family dinners at home has been amazing.
Second positive is my coworkers. Every interaction that I have with my coworkers has been both productive and positive.
It is the little things in life….