It is a Thursday evening in July of 2020, and it has been a long time since my last blog post. Actually, it has been on my to-do list for nearly two weeks now to go back and edit that last blog post.
Little Chirp has been gone for nearly three weeks, and today was his homecoming. I picked him up from his Dad’s house, and we enjoyed breakfast out. I like that they gave him a kid’s menu, and he seized the opportunity to save me a few dollars rather than be insulted. Once we were home, Little Chirp spent his day snuggled up with Storme, studying for his Algebra placement exam, and playing some video games, while I made it through an unusually stressful day of work.
I am now sitting at the kitchen island working on my blog and reaping the benefits of the many, many hours that I have spent over the past few years teaching Little Chirp to cook. He is making us chalupas. It feels wrong to have chalupas without Brainy Bird home, but that is was Little Chirp wanted to make. Potatoe is by my feet, and Storme and Pumpkine are snuggled up together on the couch. Trooper is not at all happy about the workers cleaning up our yard, and repairing the cement. He is again no where to be found.
Despite the chaos of the day, I have felt warm and happy all day. It is so good to have Little Chirp home. I think that Storme shares my happy feelings. Little Chirp made my day when I was taking a 15 minute break from work to walk Potatoe. Little Chirp normally does not want to go for a walk; especially not in this heat, but he wanted to go so that we could talk about stocks. I love that I am slowly getting him into investing.
I am enjoying our modest sized kitchen as we are right together while I write and Little Chirp cooks. Little Chirp is quite methodical in his cooking process. I can see he has a clear mental plan on when to start what to get everything ready at the same time.
Wheel of Fortune is on in the living room, and I suspect that it is either a newly recorded episode, or that it has been edited. They are donating money to a food drive. Food banks are in a state of crisis right now, as a result of the pandemic and shutdown. Two months ago, I thought that we were near the end of the shutdown, and now we are endanger of experiencing a second shutdown.
The summer will definitely be over before the uncertainty is over.
Within the last 24 hours (in chronological order) –
- Our school district announced that we would not return to the class room when school starts on August 18th. We will start school virtually for at least the first 4 weeks.
- Yvonne, aka Dog Mom, aka one of my closest friends, was locked down in her neighborhood because of an active shooter. The perpetrator was wanted for the murder of his best friend the previous day, and the police tracked him to his own in Yvonne’s neighborhood, where he opened fire on the police, and lit the house on fire. There is a great deal that we still do not know, but the perpetrator is now dead. My friend Nikki also lives in the neighborhood. Needless to say it has been a stressful day. As Yvonne said early tonight, this is the first of many of such incidents as we deal with the mental health ramifications of the shutdown.
- Major league baseball started back again. The Yankees are playing the Washington Nationals as I type. I never thought that I would root for the Yankees, but Fauci is often seen on television wearing a Nationals face mask, and I think that he is far from having our national interest at heart.
Life is so far from normal and far from the return to normal that I some times feel a sense of panic. Knowing the boys got to have a taste of summer through summer camp and a visit with Aunt Roni, does bring me some comfort.
I have repeatedly said that the road to recovery is going to be long. I am starting to realize that we as a nation are not yet on the road to recovery. All that I can do is pray and embrace the many little joys that my boys, fur kids and friends bring. Today that joy is having Little Chirp home.
It is the little things in life.