Day #157: A Trip and an Anniversary

 Wow, it has been a bit since I posted and I missed it. Apparently, the last 2 weeks were the busiest of the summer. Busiest of the quarantine. Busiest of the pandemic to date. And I think we won't be nearly as busy for awhile.

I was reading through what I last wrote so I can give you a quick update of what's happened since then. My sister and I did in fact watch Hamilton and it was much more fun than I was expecting. It won't win as my favorite musical ever but I liked the West Wing shoutouts and the characters, if not always historically accurate, were a lot of fun.

The family left as scheduled Sunday morning and they arrived home to Denver Tuesday night. Other than being on the tired side, no one to date seems much the worse for wear, knock on wood. I haven't seen my dad since they left, hoping to see him tomorrow for Max's birthday. I'm sure he needed time to rest as well.

Tuesday morning I left for a little mini vacay with a couple of my best friends. We had rented a little cottage on the Oregon coast...something I was nervous about at the time we made the decision for a lot of reasons not the least of which was my husband being unemployed and not knowing if in August we would be allowed to get away. But we were and honestly it was SO LOVELY. It was midweek so the beaches were quite quiet...we wore masks in the little towns we were in and for food we cooked our own or ate in places with outdoor patio seating only. But it wasn't hard at all. It was one of those things that came close to feeling normal...game nights with my friends and walks on the beach and seafood and time to read...it was great. I'm really glad we did it. I have no idea when a getaway will be possible again, my family is long overdue for one, but I'm glad this one happened.

Came home and yesterday was our 10th wedding anniversary.

We don't do anniversaries big normally...it's an odd time of year and we're not gift people. But we were going to do something. We were supposed to be in Michigan last week with family so there would be grandparents there and a place to leave children, so we were going to do...something. Not huge, but something. Because 10 years seems like a lot and we don't get childcare options that often.

Instead, when my sister was here we left the kids with her and had a 3 hour date (it was awesome) and then last night we had Thai food and played Scrabble after the kids went to bed. It wasn't what we planned, but it wasn't awful. I think the key to anniversaries is having the right partner. And I'm not gonna lie, this whole operation is hard on marriages. Quarantine and pandemic is hard on marriages, adding unemployment doesn't make it easier. But we have each other and we love each other and we love our kids and sometimes it's the little things. So it was nice. It could have been much much worse. I felt bad for the guy, though...he had a six hour job interview. Happy anniversary.

Today's goal was to go hiking but James...had a tough time being James so we decided we just didn't want to take him in the head space he was in anywhere. Who wants meltdowns in the woods? So I went birthday shopping for Max and Josh attempted to get him to nap and he didn't and there was playing outside. Thank the good Lord in heaven above for playing outside.

Tomorrow my baby tuns 2. It is not our first pandemic birthday, I feel at this point like we got this. Gonna be a good day. I should not say that. I will not jinx things. Gonna be fine. Everything will be fine. I can aspire to fine.

Media consumption: I have read a few books already this month, today I started Bud Not Buddy (1999 Newbery) and Olive Kitteridge (2008 Pulitzer, reading it with an Instagram friend.) Not far enough into either to be able to comment much, both have potential. Still watching lots of West Wing and since I'm kinda off audiobooks at the moment, just not in the mood, I'm re-listening to The West Wing Weekly.

Today I'm grateful for: bedtime giggles with James helping to wash a rough day away, Max being tired and rubbing his sleepy eyes at bedtime and then the snuggles, oh, the snuggles are so good, finally finding a birthday present I think Max will love, honestly not having to hike I wasn't in the mood either don't tell Josh, some time out of the house alone to run errands, the little things that almost feel normal,  a getaway, a return, James catching tiny crabs at the beach, the snuggles Max gives when trains go by and he's terrified, 10 years with a really awesome man by my side, the people who make this life worth living. 

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