Dear Kids, The past week has been an exciting one. There have been 2 major events that have grabbed our country’s attention. One was quite exciting and thrilling. The other was and is…scary. I’ll get the scary one out of the way first and then end with a high note. On Memorial Day, a black man was killed in Minneapolis by a cop. He was being arrested and the cop had his knee on his neck for 9 minutes. The man later passed away. Kids, you need to know something. I hope things are different when you’re older, but I fear it won’t be so. This world is filled with…
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Journal For My Kids #1
Dear Kids, We’re in the middle of a pandemic, when things are starting to reopen and Dad and I are keeping an eye on the numbers to see how they’ll change, especially after Memorial Day weekend and far too many gathering like they shouldn’t have. But today is also an historic one. Today, SpaceX and NASA are about to launch two American astronauts from Florida. Maybe by the time you two read this, it’ll be commonplace. Maybe today will start the next part into space travel and exploration. Maybe you’ll read this one day, before you or someone you know is about to travel into space. Maybe this will be…
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To Be Like a Dolphin
Last year, or maybe the year before, my husband took us to see a film at our Natural History Museum. I don’t really remember which one it was or what it was about, but I do remember something about one type of dolphin. They live in not quite friendly waters, where the waves are large and a bit dangerous. But they thrive in it. They can be seen jumping and playing and having fun. As dangerous as their home may be, they still prefer to have fun. For a long time, I would think about them and motherhood. Being a mom isn’t easy, but, if dolphins can live with a…
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Safer at Home Order Journal #7
Dear Kids, There are 5 weeks left of school. Five weeks. When did that happen. Eight weeks ago, I thought it would take forever for the end of the year to come. I was desperately hoping for even a slim chance of schools reopening before the end of the school year. I felt like the school year was never going to end and I was going to be a basket case by June. It took a few weeks, but we finally settled into a routine. Brother has a routine of what order he wants to do all of his schoolwork and we have a schedule for his Zoom classes that doesn’t…
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Safer at Home Order Journal #6
Dear Kids, As we head into our 8th week, we did something different yesterday: we went to Nana and Papa’s house. It’s been hard for the past couple of months to not see them. We’re so used to going over almost every weekend, and you two love playing in their backyard and with your cousins. Last summer we spent a lot of time over there and Papa had a ton of fun getting all of you very wet. This year, it looks like you’ll only be getting wet in the tub at bath time. The last time we saw your grandparents was the end of February. After that, they were…
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Safer at Home Order Journal #5.5
Dear Daughter, The past…more than a month of staying at home hasn’t been as bad as it could have been. You and Brother have never enjoyed going out, anyways. I’m afraid that getting the two of you out of here just to go to the market when all this is over will be impossible! Really, the two of you make this so much easier, and I’m so grateful to you. But now we’re coming to a point where it’s getting hard. Oh, it’s not hard to stay at home. Not at all. It’s really hot outside now, so we don’t even want to go out. It’s crazy how the weather…
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Safer at Home Order Journal #5
Dear Kids, We’ve been home for the past 5 weeks now. Somehow…it feels like those 5 weeks passed in the blink of an eye. Of course I remember all those hard days when Brother just wasn’t into school, the days when Sister was running around like a crazy person because there wasn’t enough attention to go around for her, days when I broke down and cried in front of you because this is a stressful time. I’m just grateful the both of you are not experiencing the stress Dad and I are. Though I’ll be honest and say we haven’t really missed going out much. I think that’s mostly because it’s been…
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Safer at Home Order Journal #4
Dear Kids, I haven’t written to you for a while because there isn’t actually much to say. Days pass, nights come and go, cases rise, deaths rise, small changes to flatten the curve are made as necessary, we listen to our mayor speak almost every day at 5:15pm. Oh, well, we just received the masks Dad ordered because now we’re all encouraged to wear masks when going out and all essential workers must also wear them (your dad is one, if you’re wondering). There are days when I don’t even seem to remember there is a pandemic going on, that it isn’t abnormal to be stuck at home. After all,…
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Safer at Home Order Journal #3
Dear Kids, There’s a big ship at our port right now. It’s a big floating hospital that’s usually docked in San Diego or out on humanitarian missions around the world. They’re saying it’s the first time the USNS Mercy has ever directly served the US. It’s supposed to be here until September, and we’re hoping there’s a chance we’ll be able to take you to see it. It’s not here to take care of coronavirus patients, but to provide relief to local hospitals by taking on all non-coronavirus patients. We a little over a week into the safer at home order and two weeks into school from home, and cases…
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Safer at Home Order Journal #2
Dear Kids, Don’t worry. I’ll slow down on writing these for you because, by now, you know Mom likes to write and ramble and I know you probably think you have better things to do. Ahem! Video games are not better things, unless you’re older than I think when you’re reading this and work in that industry, in which case it might be more important because you have to make a paycheck. Anyways, an interesting peek into how your mom thinks when you’re only 2 and 5? Don’t look at me and call me crazy. It just struck me today that our days under the safer at home order and…
