A Dozen Years of Jane

12 years ago I was so worried that having a baby two weeks before Christmas would make it so Jane's birthday would be swallowed up in Christmas.

Luckily I ended up with a kid who loves Christmas so much that she wanted an Elf birthday party a couple years ago.

This year, there were no birthday parties due to The Great Unpleasantness, but she desperately wanted to open her presents under the tree... just to make things seem a little more festive. So glad she embraces the proximity of her birthday and Christmas.

 

Jane's really into unicorns right now, so there were many unicorn themed items at her celebration.

When you're twelve in our house, there are a couple rites of passage.

The first is ear piercing. 

I figure 12 is old enough to be responsible for your holes. Both to make sure they don't get infected and to keep earrings in often enough so they don't close up. Jane is thrilled to finally be able to wear real earrings. 

When you're a little sister, it's tough watching your big sister get to have all the rights and privileges that come with age while you wait your turn. In no other way was this more transparent than in the cell phone issue. 

Anyone who knows Jane knows that she craves the company of other humans. Lockdown has been hard on her and it's been especially hard because she wasn't old enough for a phone. 

When the phone was finally in her hands, she took to it like a fish to water. 

It's not a smartphone. We're not there yet. But she has enjoyed several marathon phone calls with her friends and sent us random texts such as "Chicken nugget" and "I am JANE". Right now, her favorite thing is to put her phone on speaker with her friends and then just go about her life for hours at a time. If they feel like talking, they talk. Not my cup of tea, but whatever makes Jane feel more connected during social distancing is okay with me. 

I'm grateful that I get to have Jane in my life. I'm not sure what I did right to get such a funny, creative, charismatic little creature in my family, but I can't imagine life without her. 

 

Thankful Together... Apart

Of all the Holidays this year, Thanksgiving has been the weirdest. 

My folks are leaving soon for a year long mission in England so we really wish we could have spent Thanksgiving together. But we decided it was too risky. 

The day before Thanksgiving we headed South to spend some time outdoors and masked with cousins. 

It was the best we could do given the circumstances. 

The kids were thrilled to get to see their cousins, even if it was just a couple of hours. 

And then, we had our own little Thanksgiving, followed by a Zoom session with the rest of the family. 

It was weird. And a little sad.

But when my brother came down with COVID the week before Thanksgiving and my sister came down with it two days after Thanksgiving, we were grateful that we hadn't gotten together to celebrate. One small thing to be grateful for in this weird world we are living in. 

 

We're Not in Kansas Anymore

As with the other holidays this year, we tried to make Halloween as normal as possible. 

We mostly succeeded. 

Pumpkins were carved. 

Jane's is the one with bows, Emily's is the Dwight K. Schrute one.

Costumes were donned.

Jane is Dorothy. Emily is a WWII service member. That's all the specifics I know...

And candy was collected. 

This is just Jane's haul. I think it was her best year. Jane is a sunset to lights off style trick-or-treater. While the traffic of trick-or-treaters was a little bit lighter this year, it still was relatively steady. For better or worse, we don't live in the kind of place that cancels Halloween due to a pandemic. I'm glad for that because the kids needed it. They need every morsel of normalcy they can possibly get this year.

 

Rock Springs

 We don't get out much.

We didn't get out much before the pandemic, but now, we don't even get out much by our standards.

In a normal year, a trip to Rock Springs wouldn't be noteworthy. This year, it makes the highlights reel.

Chris' dad has adopted a family of deer.

I think this is illegal... just between you and me.

We toured Rock Springs, showing the kids the sights. 

Like my childhood home...

And my teenagehood home...

And the very special spot in Chris' backyard where we shared our first kiss...

We did not share this detail with Jane, which is why she's smiling while standing on that fateful rock.

We also visited Green River. Because you cannot visit Sweetwater County without getting a Lime Rickey from Arctic Circle and crossing the Green River to Expedition Island.

That right there... that's an iconic Green River shot.

It's a long drive across the state, but it was good to see Chris' dad (not pictured here... oops) and to stroll through the memories of our very similar, yet somehow separate childhoods. 

Back to School: COVID Style

The kids went back to school today. 

I never thought that would feel so strange.

Emily left before the dawn... off to high school. 

I walked with Jane for one last first day of Elementary school.

Both the kids have to wear masks at school. Fortunately, our trip to Disneyworld prepared them for full time mask wearing. Right now, I am just grateful that something exists that helps them be in school... with their friends... having some sense of normalcy. I think if they were told they had to wear rainbow colored clown wigs and plastic raincoats all day they'd do it just to get back to school.

After school, Jane and I made cookies and talked about her day. She likes being the BKOC. She uses her upperclassman powers wisely, striving to help the kinders rather than torment them. 

The school district says, barring a huge disaster, they won't send the kids home this year. It's too important for them to be in school. After last spring, I agree. The girls have already perked up and started acting more like their normal selves. I don't want to give that up again. 

 

Pixie Dust in the Pandemic

In January the world was still a place that kind of made sense. Kids went to school. Churches held pot luck suppers. On Friday nights couples went out to dinner at crowded restaurants and then caught a new movie at the theater. Fans went to concerts. Families went on vacations. 

This is the world in which we booked our trip to Disney World. Even when things fell apart in March we thought for sure it would be over by August.

It wasn't over. And so, we were faced with a very bizarre dilemma. On one hand, we could cancel our trip. That presented the possibility of losing thousands of dollars or, if we were lucky, being locked into a vacation next year that we didn't want. No one was willing to give us cash back. And then there was the issue of the kids. I've never seen them in such low spirits. Their whole world was taken away in March. Losing their vacation was just one more thing in a long list of suck. But, on the other hand, there was the virus. 

We knew Disney was maintaining a strict nation state in which they could control cleanliness, mask use, and social distancing. We knew that in the month since Disney World had opened there had not been a single outbreak tied to the parks. We knew the kids were dying inside. 

So, after much anxiety about the virus, we decided to cancel the beach portion of our vacation and run straight to the Disney bubble. We put on all the PPE we could get our hands on and we got on a plane. 

And then, shockingly, we had what I believe just might be the best Disney trip of our lives. 

Seven days... four parks... hardly any crowds.

How did it feel to wear a mask in 90° heat with 90% humidity, you ask? Well, it felt very much the same as not wearing a mask in 90° heat with 90% humidity. Generally unpleasant. But complete compliance with mask wearing seems to be a big part of success in not virus-ing up the joint, so we were happy to do it. And, honestly, neither the heat nor the mask wearing bothered us as much as we thought it would.

We had a couple moments where we were able to get far enough away from watchful eyes to get unmasked photos. 

"Actively eating" in front of the geodesic sphere....

Sneaking away to the Purple Wall...

And a bold shot in front of the castle....

What was so great about this trip? Well, it was partly because everything has been miserable for so long. It was like eating a delicious meal after a long fast. Partly it was because we got to be spontaneous. Anyone who has been to DW knows that every minute of your trip needs to be planned months in advance. Not this time. We rode what we wanted to ride when we wanted to ride it. 

Seven Dwarfs Mine train... I think we rode 4 or 5 times. 

Splash Mountain... we lost track of how many times we plummeted down that flume. 

Flight of Passage was spectacular so we went 3 times in one day. Same with Expedition Everest and Rock and Roller Coaster. 

It was so strange to be having fun again but after a couple of days it started to feel natural. Toward the end of our trip, we discovered that our family had reached a huge milestone. Believe it or not, our kids are finally old enough to enjoy Epcot!

The Taste of Epcot festival played a big part in this. We ate our way around the World Showcase like we were born to do it. 

Then, after 7 days of magic, we ended our trip with a feast at the Beast's castle...

And waved goodbye to the Magic Kingdom...

The next morning, we watched one last sunrise from our balcony...

And hopped on a plane back to the Rocky Mountains, where we discovered that 90° with humidity is better than 90° with a constant haze of smoke. 

I was so nervous to spend a week away from home, but it made me realize that life must go on despite the virus. You take precautions, you hope for the best, but you can't stop living. For a long while, we had stopped living. We had just been existing. 

So now, as we prepare for our kids to go back to school, we are making sure they wear masks. We are encouraging them to wash their hands. But we are also encouraging them to talk to their friends, to engage in life. A week of magic taught us so much... some risks are worth taking, wearing a mask full time will not kill you, but most of all it taught us that it's necessary to have a little joy in life - especially when times are dark.  

A Blanket Statement

At our house, there is no comfort equal to a Grandma Martin Blanket. 

She made me two. A blue and white one when I was newly married:

And one with a floral pattern when I was diagnosed with cancer:

Grandma Martin blankets have been a source of comfort throughout our lives. Sometimes I lend them out when the kids are sick and they need a little something extra:

They are the perfect weight, size, and softness. Just a simple piece of fleece with a crocheted edge.

So you can understand why, when Emily's plans to volunteer at the library this summer were sidelined by COVID, she thought of donating her time to share some of Grandma Martin's love with people who need it most. 

She made eight blankets to donate to Soldiers' Angels, an organization that provides support to soldiers all over the world. She attached a note to each that thanked the soldier for their service. 

I am proud that she chose to do some good with her time this summer. I think Grandma would be proud, too.