Tales from the Pandemic: 15

My sister's husband started a new job this past Monday and that would mean that Lori is single parenting it with a 6 year old, 2 year old and 1 month old.  Rachel, who is 6, is doing online school and needs a lot of help during the day to navigate her schoolwork.   Sarah, who is 2, is a ball of energy and doesn't slow down for anything.  And then of course, are the demands that a newborn has and needs attention too.  I told Lori that when Ben got a new job, I'd come down for the first week and help.  This time I brought Samantha with me, who desperately needed a change of scenery since being at home for the last 2 months.

The silver lining in all of this is that Samantha got to meet her newest cousin and was able to spend time with her. Under normal circumstances, Ian, Samantha or me would not have come down here during this time.  We'd only be visiting for the baby naming.  With the Pandemic we've had the opportunity to visit and the kids can continue with their schooling online without disruption.   With that said, we know we are taking a big risk visiting when Caronavirus could be transferred to either us or Lori and and her family. The kids and I took all the precautions we could to minimize the risk.

While the last two sets of flights (when I came down in mid-April and Ian came down at the beginning of May) had very few people flying and airports that resembled a ghost town; this wasn't the case when Sam and I flew down on May 16th.   It was still easy to keep our distance from all the other travelers, but people are starting to travel again.  Our options for a flight home were limited and we weren't able to go non-stop.  Samantha and I will be changing planes in Chicago (!!) and then catch a flight to DCA.  We have 40 minutes to change planes.  I hope we can do it in time. I will not be surprised if we end up spending the night in Chicago.

I am happy to report that Lori and Ben have hired someone to help and she will start next Tuesday. Whew!