End of the Year Wrap Up: 2020 Edition

 This has truly been a year unlike any other.  I now think of life in terms of before March 13th and after March 13th.   Life came to a complete and sudden stop on March 13th.  Everything changed!  We were scared to go out, we were terrified we'd get sick with Caronavirus, we quickly found ways to adapt to eating at restaurants outside, picking up curbside delivery, and of course, wearing a mask wherever we go.   Toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning supplies and many kinds of food were all hard to find for many, many months.  It was and is such an insane and surreal time for all of us.  School became distance learning and Jeff's office, as all of them in our area, shut down and moved the employees to working from home.  Everything was all about zoom meetings, virtual get togethers, and being isolated from social gatherings, birthday parties and travel.  The month of March seemed to go on forever.  April felt like it would never end.  It didn't matter that it was Spring Break as nothing could be done to take advantage of the time off from school.  Each day blurred into the next and it became a joke that no one knew what day it was anymore.  Camp got cancelled for the kids and it was a huge blow.  Our community pool opened and we were able to visit it once the county we are in went to Phase 3. 

Bedtimes went out the window!  Once there was no reason to get up for school, there was no real reason to tell the kids to go to bed at their reasonable usual time.  Ian was averaging 1 to 2am.  Ugh!  And Sam was not going to bed before 11:00pm easy.  Jeff and I routinely went to sleep before the kids each night.

During the Summer, we managed to make a week at OC,NJ with the Reber's a reality.  It was surreal being together and not having any of our parents or extended family join us.  We had a great week and loved that we could have this to break up our summer.   We also booked a segue tour in Philadelphia and went whitewater rafting in West Virginia.  We became more outdoorsy than we've ever been. 

I started my days taking 5 mile walks with Lucy.  It was the best!  The weather was exceptional and being outdoors came easy.  We got a hammock (gift from Mom-mom!) and spent many hours relaxing on it.  That hammock on our deck became like an extra room for us.  Much needed extra space and fresh air.  

I met friends in their driveways or on their deck for brunch or dinner.  It was the only safe way we could socialize. We got a firepit (another gift from Mom-mom!) and spent many, many evenings enjoying the fire place with friends.  

The kids and I started a new tradition and each Saturday or Sunday, we'd get popcorn from our local movie theatre and watch a different movie each weekend.  It was awesome and gave us something to look forward to.  Plus, I got to introduce the kids to more of my favorite movies. 

We managed to do some awesome updates to the house and finally got recessed lighting in our dining room, kitchen, living room and both the kids' bedrooms.  What an amazing difference that has made.  We also got a new dishwasher, refrigerator (hello French doors!), 2 new couches, all new dishes, and a new lawn mower.  What a surprise that we were able to make all this happen.  

And with all the extra time we had on our hands, Samantha repainted her bedroom and I repainted the master bedroom and the bathroom. I made over the master bedroom and redecorated with new bedding, lamps and curtains.  It looks amazing! The best was cleaning out the shed and emptying no less than 20 huge storage bins.  The shed looks amazing and is so organized.  I also undertook a huge photo organization project and made a phenomenal system to store photos from the past 50 years.  And I cleaned out my closet & drawers and got it super organized.

Lucy loved us being home 24/7 and it soon became all she knew.  We had never been home like this before.  And in the same vein, Lucy became an emotional support therapy dog for real.  Jeff and Samantha leaned heavily on her for comfort during some of the more trying times of being stuck at home while doing work and school. 

In some ways the pandemic gave us so much (better finances - we couldn't do anything else to spend money on. Ha!), much time spent with the four of us together and, a slowed down pace of life that really let us appreciate everything we had to be thankful for.  I had the unique opportunity to go down to Orlando and be there for my sister and her family for the birth of Alexis.  Originally, it was not planned that I'd be down there, but Lori really needed the help with the 2 girls so that Ben could be with Lori for the birth and stay at the hospital.  Additionally, Samantha and Ian each were able to take a trip and spend time at Lori's house during the beginning part of the pandemic.  Since school was virtual, they could do it online in Orlando and not miss any of their classes.  Ian used his extra downtime and wrote, wrote and wrote some more all these awesome tv shows and movies.  He has ideas that just don't stop coming.  He wrote a full series about Jewish Sleepaway Camp Mockumentary and entered in many different screenwriting contests.  And Ian worked on his stand-up routine and got to perform for a high school theatre teachers in the backyard of one teacher's house in June.  It was pretty awesome and a good experience for him.  

The other thing quarantining gave us was the opportunity to binge watch so much tv!  It was insane the amount of shows I could plow through. 

The pandemic also took a lot away from us as well - spending holidays with either Jeff's family or mine, trips down to Florida to visit the extended family, kids getting to go to sleepaway camp (Ian was going to attend for the whole summer), and many opportunities for socialization with friends and the kids getting to experience school in person. Additionally, all chances for Ian to perform in school plays was cancelled.  He was one of only 2 freshman to get a part in "Chicago" !   Unfortunately, this play never made it even to rehearsals. And one of the bigger disappointments was Samantha not getting to do all the traditional 6th grade promotion ceremony stuff at the end of the school year.  School ending very suddenly in mid-March was hard to swallow when you realized there would be no graduation ceremony or end of the year party.

Ian got his driver's permit in December and has been racking up hours behind the wheel at a crazy pace.  He drove a combined 5 1/2 hours on our drive to and from Vermont.  And did 3 hours while in Vermont.  Ian is doing great, but could really use help with parking.

I know we will all be too happy to see 2020 to end and hope for a better year in 2021.  With the vaccine now widely becoming available, it looks like we will be able to get back some much needed normalcy.  

Travel this year:

January:  Ian traveled to NYC with Dagan to visit a camp friend for 4 days

January:  Robyn and Sam travel to NYC for the day with Susanne and her girls

February:  Robyn and Sam travel to Orlando for 5 days 

April:  Robyn in Orlando for 8 days

April / May:  Ian in Orlando for 13 days

May:  Robyn and Sam in Orlando for 5 days

July:  Week at the beach, OC, NJ

September: Jeff and Robyn in Chincoteague for 1 night

December:  Vermont with the family for 5 nights

This past year I discovered both kids struggling with distance learning for entirely different reasons.  Samantha had a hard time focusing with her ADHD (inattentive type) and either found the teachers going too fast and couldn't keep up, or moving too slow and getting extremely bored.  It also was a big disadvantage to starting a new school and have never met her teachers or even took a tour of the school to see where her classes would be.  Everything, including the ramping up program, was all done virtually.  Samantha hardly knew anyone in her classes and had to figure out how to adapt to a virtual environment.

While Ian had a hard time with distance learning because he is so social and loves being around his friends and actually attending school.  So much of what he loves involves showing up and participating - musical theatre, improv, play rehearsal, dance classes.  It was very hard for him to adapt to being 100% virtual.  

Once it was figured out how to proceed safely, Ian was able to do dance classes in person.  He takes 6 classes a week! and absolutely loves them.  Ian also continues with his voice lessons and does this 2 times each week.  His singing has improved so much.  It's really awesome to listen to him sing.  He is in his last year of religious school and attends this virtually.   Samantha does do horseback riding in person and this has proven to be a much needed activity to get her out of the house.  Her Sunday religious school is in person, but the Tuesday class meets online.  

Ian also got himself a job and will be portraying Spiderman at children's birthday parties.  He contacted the company all on his own and went after this opportunity.  And with a few buddies from school, Ian started a podcast.  A new episode comes out each Friday.  It's actually pretty funny and sounds very professional! 

I am a firm believer that this pandemic will either bring your closer together or accelerate any problems you are having.  There is no way you can come out of this the same as when you started.  All this time together with the same person is a huge social experiment in getting along.  There is no opportunity to leave to go to work, or take a business trip, or have a girl's weekend or anything else that would bring a natural separation.  And with no end in sight, month after month after month, it really does wear on your psyche and make you emotionally burned out.  Even the most optimistic person will become depressed at the state of things.  So many people lost so much, so many businesses will never recover, Broadway will be shut down for more than a year, travel became almost non-existent.  At the time I am writing this, over 300,000 people in the US lost their lives to COVID-19.  It is truly astonishing and tragic how much has happened since that first day in March when it all came to a dead stop.  

I feel so blessed that Jeff and I managed to keep it together and become closer through all of this.  Our house is on the small side, so time together was our only option.  The kids had their moments of trying to adjust, but did well and somehow we managed to thrive under these quarantine conditions.  We were fortunate to have our jobs and be financially secure.  We made many donations to our local food banks and did our best to keep the smaller restaurants around us in business by doing take out many times over the past several months.  The best feeling for us was when restaurants opened again at the end of May, and we'd eat outside on their patios to give them business and leave huge tips for the waitstaff as a way to help them for being out of work for many months and not having a lot of people showing up to eat out. Or leaving big tips when ordering take-out.  And when Ian was finally able to get a haircut again, I paid his favorite barber for the 3 haircuts he missed by not being able to go because they were forced to shut down.

The Year Ahead in 2021:

Ha!  I can say all I want about 2021, but who knew 2020 was going to turn out like it did?  My biggest wish is for a vaccine and that everyone I care about and love gets vaccinated.  This is the year of Samantha's Bat Mitzvah and I desperately want everyone to be able to travel and make it for this wonderful milestone.  Additionally, my dad turns 75 this year and I want us to be able to go down to Orlando and celebrate with the family. I want to hug everyone and not let go!  Or worry, one of us is sick and infecting the other.   And lastly, I so very much want Ian and Sam to attend camp.  This will be the last year that Ian is able to go and it is so important that he gets this time with his camp friends and has one last year to make memories.  

I plan to keep up the walking and get back to the awesome groove I was in doing 5 miles each day.  Somehow I stopped and really miss the amazing benefits walking gives me.

My New Year's Wish:  

I wish for our newly elected President to unite this country back together.  For all of us to realize we are on the same side and love is much better than hate.  I hope we all find many reasons to smile and enjoy the little things.  May 2021 make all our wishes come true.  Happy New Year!

Vermont for 4

Getting out of town and having a change of scenery had never been more needed than during Winter Break this year. Since going to Orlando or San Diego was out of the question, we decided to head North and go to Vermont.  We were all so excited about getting to see snow!  Fortunately two days before we went, Vermont got close to 4 feet of snow!  It was perfect timing for our arrival.  We stayed for 5 nights and did everything you could do outdoors.  

We went snowmobiling, took a ski lesson, went on a hike, did sledding, and took a sleigh ride.  It was all so much fun.  A few places that we visited that were extra cool was the King Arthur Flour Bakery, The Vermont Country Store, and we walked around a cute, little town called Woodstock.  One of the best places we discovered was this diner called "Country Girl Diner".  It was an old-fashioned dining car and inside was super small and adorable.  The food was awesome and I was blown away by how many different kinds of Gluten Free bread they offered -- white, rye, cinnamon raisin, hot dog bun, and hamburger bun.  Wow!  

Ian has discovered he loves skiing and is pretty darn good at it!  I managed to hold my own and went down a green trail without falling. Woo-hoo!!  

We ended our trip on Christmas day and drove back home.  No traffic and the weather was starting to get bad.  Hard rain for the first half of the drive and then it was clear the rest of the way.  We needed to stop for lunch and one of the only places we found to be open was this most awesome Mexican restaurant.  Totally authentic.  

Going to Vermont was just the distraction we needed.  

Life as we know it

 It's been a while since I've written - not just infrequently - but at all.  How odd that I feel the need to write today.   9 months since the world stopped and everyone was forced to re-evaluate how we did everything - grocery shopping, going to school, going to work, being with friends, traveling, eating out, and more.  9 months since I've been in a movie theatre, which really is something so foreign to me. 

Returning to school is such an elusive concept.  Just when we think a plan is in place to start getting groups of students back to school, our numbers for getting COVID-19 start spiking upward again and everything stops progressing.  Ian was in a group of students, who because they were taking a special Musical Theatre Class, was able to go for 2 hours on a Monday, every 2 to 3 weeks.  He made it in person just 1 time before this plan got cancelled because the metrics were no longer being met in our area.  

I am not sure how we are going to make it to January 26th when they keep saying this Return to School plan is supposed to start.  It's just so hard to imagine that we will actually get the kids back in school this year.  As positive as I usually am, I am not holding my breath thinking its going to happen.  

Travel has been a whole ordeal that depresses me greatly.  So many trips we've had planned had to be postponed.  I'd reschedule the whole thing to a few months later, only to have to do it again and again.  We've been trying to go San Diego since last April 2020.  We tried again in August 2020,  December 2020, and now will try to visit when the kids have Spring Break at the end of March 2021. 

We cancelled our plans to go to Orlando for Thanksgiving.  And, tickets I had to two Broadway plays, originally in May 2020 and June 2020, have each been rescheduled twice (August 2020, October 2020, March 2021, May 2021) before it got to be insane and I needed to stop trying to make it work with rescheduling a 3rd time.  Supposedly, Broadway should be back in action starting in June 2021, but I don't have it in me to keep going around in circles hoping each new rescheduled date will turn out to be the one.  I now have all the money permanently refunded and a credit with Amtrak to take the train within the next year.  But I'd much rather have 2 trips to NYC in the works.  

It's weird that Jeff and the kids have been home since March 13th.  I'm the only one leaving each morning for my job at the preschool.  For the past 7 years. I'd have the house to myself in the afternoons until the kids came home from school, and Jeff came home from work.  Now, they are always there.  Always!   No more quiet weekday afternoons for me.

Fortunately, Ian's dance classes are in person, and Sam's horseback riding lessons are in person.  At least there is a little bit of normalcy amidst all this craziness.

A vaccine for COVID-19 has started to become available and is currently making its way to people, in order of who should get it first.  I am thrilled with this development and hope that life can start to get back to normal.   It's been a long 9 months.

Tales from the Pandemic 22

Time is a strange thing.  Sometimes it feels like it is moving so slow, where each day feels like a week.  I thought the last two weeks of March was never ending.  It felt like the longest month ever.  So much had been taken away from us with no warning; school, dining out, the movies, shopping in stores, attending doctor and dentist appts, being around friends, going to events, socializing, going in to the office, etc.  We all had to quickly adjust to a new way of life.  There was no choice but to adapt.  

4 1/2 months later, time no longer feels like it is crawling.  I am actually surprised by how fast the weeks are flying by.  Most everything is open again; doctors appts, dining in restaurants, shopping in stores and hair salons.  But not everything is business as usual and we still have to be uber careful not to get too close to others, we have to wear a mask, keep 6 ft distance, wash hands excessively, and socializing is still incredibly limiting.  I can't believe it is August.  Each week is going quicker than the last.  I couldn't tell you exactly what has been filling up our time, but boy do I feel busy! 

I guess we are getting used to our new normal; but it still feels so strange.  Jeff, the kids and I are focusing on doing more things outside.  We are doing a segway tour in Philadelphia, whitewater rafting in Harper's Ferry, a week at the beach in OC, NJ, visits to our local pool, and lots of miles logged early in the morning with Lucy.  Trying to make something of our summer and not feel like we are stuck in the house all the time.   We've been eating a lot of take-out food and going to the outside patio areas of restaurants.  I'm weary of eating inside a restaurant and try not to do it if given a choice.

Since this whole mess started back in March, the kids and I do a movie at home every Sunday afternoon.  I get us popcorn (3 larges for only $9) at our local movie theatre that sells concessions to help keep the employees paid.  We pick a favorite film I've seen and want to introduce the kids to. The challenge comes from finding something that would appeal to both Ian and Samantha.  So far, I have a pretty good track record.  We all enjoy this time together and I do hope this new tradition continues beyond the pandemic.

Ian is registered for his dance classes this Fall and will be able to do them in person.  We are still waiting to hear how religious school will be handled, but I have a feeling it will continue to be virtual like it ended up Spring this past school year.  

Unfortunately the biggie we were hoping for in-person was middle school and high school.  At one point, it looked like our district was giving us a choice on in-person or virtual.  But one week after everyone submitted their preference, the school district changed their minds and decided all students were going virtual. Oy!  I am not sure how this is going to in our house.  I am very worried for Samantha with this coming school year.  Her learning style did not work being virtual in the Spring and needs to be in a classroom with a teacher.  I know we will get tutors to help her, but this is her year to transition to middle school and I was hoping more for her than this.

Sleep is all messed up for us.  Bed times no longer mean anything and the kids regularly go to sleep way past when Jeff & I do.  It's nuts. There is no real reason the kids have to go to bed at more reasonable time because there is no reason for them to get up early the next day.  So that means the kids sleep to 10:00am or longer.  Like I said, it is all messed up and trying to get something on a regular schedule when school starts will take time.

So much of the country continues to be doing a bad job trying to get Covid-19 under control.  Fortunately, NoVa is doing well and our new cases confirmed each day is not too bad.  It's good to know that we are taking mask wearing and social distancing serious and it's working.  Maybe we'll be able to get back into school sooner than later.  

Tales from the Pandemic 21

It's been 100 days since all this craziness has begun.  We are now in Phase 2 and more things have opened and/ or capacity of people allowed have increased.  Restaurants can now allow people to dine inside.  Pools can open as long as it is kept to less than 50 people and you are continuously moving in the water.

I am typically an upbeat and positive person.  I can usually find the silver lining in just about any situation.  I've long ago realized that there is no use in complaining and to take control of the situation.  But I am pretty sure I've reached my breaking point.  It's just too much time at home!   Plain and simple.  I am tired of feeling like every time I go to the store or a restaurant or anywhere outside, I am going to get Covid-19.  I am tired of running into people I know at the store and not being able to give them a hug hello.  I am tired of questioning everything I touch and I can't get to purell quick enough to undo whatever I might have inadvertently done.

I am most tired of not being able to plan a trip to Orlando and know that I can be within 6 feet of my parents.

We've started letting Ian hang out with friends.  At this point, it is more important to our mental health to be social than risk getting Covid-19.  I was able to do lunch with a few close friends on a screened in porch.  It was perfect.  I truly felt like I was set free from prison - if only for a few hours.  It felt so good to do something this normal and just be around friends.  It was so needed.

I know we need to continue to be vigilant and always wear a mask in public.  If only we could know when this would be over.  I am currently scared as to what will happen in the Fall with our return to school.  The rumors flying around is that it will be virtual.  Oh boy, the thought of this makes me depressed.  I am not sure Samantha is going to be able to thrive in this kind of environment.  She is transitioning to new school and all the teachers will be brand new to her.  It's already tough when you are able to see all of this in person, now imagine it just over a video in your computer.

Back in the day, when we were at our all-time high of activities and my time was consumed every afternoon running from point A to B to C to D getting the kids to where they needed to go, I always thought to myself, wouldn't it be nice to have a break?   Ha!  Now, I long for those days and would give anything to take Samantha to religious school or Ian to his dance classes.

I have come to despise Zoom.  When you have a big group of people trying to have a conversation or conduct a meeting, it is a painful experience.

I am so ready for this to all go away and have our lives back to they way we were before March 13th showed up on the calendar. 

Tales from the Pandemic 20

Trying to make the most of a birthday during a quarantine, the Oshry's came over and surprised Ian with a one-sided water balloon fight to wish him a Happy Birthday.  And boy, was Ian surprised!  What a fun and awesome family to come over and throw water balloons at Ian.  Just a little something to make his birthday special during our time at home.

Afterwards, Jeff, Ian, Lucy and I walked to Jersey's Subs and picked up lunch to take back home.  3.6 miles later, we were happy campers getting out on this beautiful day and taking in fresh air. 

I signed Ian up for a drop-in Improv class with 2nd City in Chicago later in the afternoon.  He was initially not happy about this, but I think the class was not that bad and he said he would do it again if he had a friend join him.  Yay!

And the day ended with our first dinner out in 13 weeks at Ozzies.  Ian is now 15! 

Tales from the Pandemic 19

Phase 1 went into effect on Friday, May 29th.  Restaurants are allowed to now offer a dining experience, as long as it is outside and the tables are spaced far enough apart to be socially safe.  The waitstaff all have to wear masks, and the menus were disposable, one-time use. Furthermore, the tables and chairs gets wiped down after each use. It feels like all the necessary precautions are taking place.

Our return to a restaurant was Ozzie's at Fairfax Corner.  It was a gorgeous night to be outdoors and the perfect place for our first outing. And it was May 31st, we were able to celebrate Ian's birthday. Win!

It was nice to see people enjoying being out, but doing it safely.  Although, I found it uncomfortable and awkward that the wait staff had masks on and we didn’t (obviously you can’t wear one when eating).  They were protecting us from them, but we were not doing anything to protect them from us.  It just felt unfair to the people who worked at the restaurant. 

We did something cool at the end of the meal.  We knew restaurants were hurting from not being able to be open for 13 weeks and seating outside was going to be limited compared to the amount of tables they have to offer indoors.   When the bill came, we gave a 100% tip.  $86 big ones!  It felt so good to be able to do this.  This could become an expensive habit to get into until the pandemic is over.