The summer of 2020 has been one for the books...literally.
Patrick and I started off June with a Black Lives Matter protest and me clumsily explaining all that is happening with the protests and marches. We met up with McKenna in downtown Salt Lake just as the protest was dissipating (dang it!) but we were there! With our masks and our sign that Patrick made which read "Black Guys Matter". He asked me to write that for him. It's been challenging to help him understand why people want to get rid of Chase from the kid's TV show "Paw Patrol" but I've read and learned that black parents have these kinds of conversations early and often with their children and that it's never too early to start talking about racism. There's this idea that if you acknowledge color you are contributing to the problem or that if they (meaning children) are taught early about racism they will somehow become overtly racist. I see the logic in that to some degree- if Patrick doesn't know that shit is a swear word, he's far less inclined to use it than if he knows it's a bad word and wants to use it to be a pill- HOWEVER, the conversation about racism is pretty different from that. So, I've told Patrick that while many police officers are good people, the way that they're taught how to be police and the rules that they uphold are often racist. Moreover, the system at large is designed to imprison people of color which sounds truly shocking but, all the evidence in the movie "Thirteenth" supports this claim. Anyway, obviously challenging to discuss with a 5 year old whose own general mistrust of the world is already becoming evident through some violent behaviors and emotional volatility. We had been taking him to a therapist who suspects he may suffer from some mild anxiety. What a time to be alive and be a parent.
After the protest we went to a super pretentious local coffee shop (they didn't even have sugar in the shop AT. ALL.) to grab a quick bite and then ventured over to our house for a little visit. Kenna and I sat and chatted for a little while as Patrick played with the neighbor kids before our nanny came over and I launched into some work (I've been doing some loan brokering). Kenna and I have had a few longer visits just us lately and it's been really nice. She JUST moved to New Mexico to finish her college degree and we will miss her a whole lot.
In June we took a LOT of bike rides...like nightly. We explored all around our neighborhood just us as a family and also with our neighbors. It was delightful.
Patrick and his little neighbor friends have been getting along swimmingly.
I continued doing some work learning about racism and how to be anti-racist. Our libraries finally opened up again and I attempted to check out a handful of books on racism and there weren't any available....one of them had over 100 holds! I was so pleased to see that and I find myself wondering when I could carve out time to read. I've struggled since the pandemic began to make time to exercise and work and stay on top of cleaning the house and play with the kids and make good meals and go run errands without the kiddos and I wonder- HOW would I squeak in reading? I know I can use my time better...more on that later.
On June 4th Patrick had a socially distanced pre-school graduation. His teachers stood behind him in masks, he got a prize, and a little certificate. We didn't see any of his friends and I know he misses them as he has mentioned them many times. Sometimes, as he's playing with certain toys that remind him of pre-school, he'll tell me stories about school and his friends or remember things he learns. The same often happens with memories he has from Kathie's.
On June 5th, we took our first trip to visit with Bonnie and Steve since March. They had one quick socially distant bbq on our front lawn earlier in our pandemic but we hadn't stayed with them since the weekend of March 8th when we went to see Steve perform in Annie and it was the weekend before everyone went on lockdown. It was SO SO SO SO nice to visit with them again. We all felt that we had been cautious and careful enough to be indoors together and I know it's been hard on Bonnie to not see the grandkids so, we took the risk.
A few days later, we decided to try going to the zoo. Scott purchased us zoo passes for Christmas and we hadn't been since the weather was too cold and then we were all quarantining. When some of those restrictions lifted, we decided to give the zoo a try. We didn't wear masks and since it was a rainy day there was nearly NOBODY there. In hindsight, I wish we wore masks even though they weren't requiring them at the time...or if they were requiring them they weren't enforcing it and I thought we were safe because everything was outside. Pandemic Michelle of today would be much more careful about that and would wear masks. We didn't make it very long at the zoo because the weather was actually quite cool and the rain was making things rather unpleasant so, we packed it up and headed home. Yia yia came with us though so, we didn't leave without her spoiling Patch and purchasing a cute new umbrella for him which had eyes and a tail to make it look like an animal. When we got home and for several days after that Patrick enjoyed using it to play "Mary Poppins". Sweet boy. Patch reinacted some of the scenes he could remember and I got several of them on film. Adorable.
On June 11th, we took a hike with our neighbor Whitney and her two kiddos. We enjoyed plenty of snacks along the way and got up to a lovely little pond. The week before I made it a goal to go hiking once a week until the start of school. I made it like 5 weeks and got distracted as of late but we have still had LOTS of outdoor adventures.
On June 14th we had a socially distant dinner at Bonnie and Steve's house again. This time Stephanie and family joined us, all masked and outdoors, for about an hour. They left before food was served. We ate in a large circle 6 feet apart, masked up, and got closer to visit again. These are crazy times and we tried to see each other while still being safe. What a world.
On June 15th I went with Mary and Monique to be the "hype girl" for Monique's curbside concert for Salty Dinner Theater season ticket holders. It was our fist concert in an attempt to bring a little bit of theater to our patrons who would otherwise be coming to see our summer show. Since most performances have been cancelled as the virus rages, we are doing what we can to support our people and still get out to perform. It was very fun and I surprised myself by landing a split at the end of all my crazy hype girl dancing.
On June 18th I launched into a project to fix the boy's bathroom toilet. As I was part way through the project, I discover that I do not have the parts I need, I head to Home Depot, I find an employee and she, with lots of "you got this" type of encouragement, told me that all I needed was a simple gasket. Thanks Home Depot lady. I went home and fixed it. I launched into another toilet project tonight where I attempted to install a cloth diaper sprayer hose. Patrick looked at all the tools and supplies and asked "are you doing that thing where there's lots of stuff on the counter for a while again". I stopped in my tracks and decided to let Scott take care of it. haha.
That evening I got dressed up for another curbside concert and this time I got to wear a dress I had purchased from Savers for our girls cruise that got cancelled. I was tickled to be able to get dressed up....like REALLY dressed up for something. I even did my hair all fancy and wore my glitzy hair comb.
On June 21st, we had a Father's Day dinner at my parents house with Scott's parents and paid a quick visit to Scott's Grandma Moore. This was our second visit with her since the pandemic began. For the first we sat on her driveway in chairs 6 feet apart. For this second, we sat on her back patio and most of the time took turns chasing after our children while Steve visited with his mom. It was pleasant but REALLY toasty and I forgot to bring something with sleeves to wear over my tank top. I wanted to be ultra respectful of Grandma Jean and my in laws and be sure to adhere more closely to their modesty guidelines. While I know they wouldn't say anything judgmental about my sleeveless shirt, I just wanted to be respectful so I ROASTED in my sweater. Woops!
On June 22nd a restoration and repair company paid us a visit because our leaky toilet (that I had launched into fixing AFTER a giant leak happened) had flooded the basement bathroom and lots of drywall needed replacing. Btw, it's now mid August and they STILL HAVENT FINISHED. Annoying. Anywho, our poor tenants had to deal with fans running constantly for days but luckily they appeared to be busy and out of town for a portion of that. Phew.
Thanks to staying home and slowing things down a bit this summer, we've had a morning tradition of cuddle time in bed. The boys wake up and we generally stay there a while snuggling and wrestling and such. On the morning of June 26th Patrick somehow convinced me to let him do my hair. It felt surprisingly good and I even let him spray some "spray stuff" in my hair (vanilla body spray actually along with some dry shampoo...it was a disaster but also, it still felt really good).
On June 29th, I ordered myself an at home COVID test so that I could ensure I was COVID negative in preparation to spend time with Mary and Dan for Clarke's birthday/ pool party at our house. After some convincing, I was able to get Scott to go take a test as well and we all felt good about getting together. It was so strange to feel "normal" for a minute and see my dearest friends whom I've hardly seen (save for the occasional meeting for our theater company- more on that later as well!) and I've not been able to play with their kiddos AT ALL so, it was amazing.
On June 30th I fixed the face of a drawer that kept flipping forward (the hardware that allowed it to come forward for the sake of one of those pull out cutting boards busted) soooo while Scott plans to create a much more permanent and nicer version of this and two other busted drawers, I took matters into my own hands and screwed the one face on bypassing the busted hardware and double stick tapped the other two. Gotta do what you gotta do. I was exceedingly proud of myself.
K. That was June. June was good but June was also weird. I'm getting used to things feeling weird and good.
