Best laid plans

Before having children, Paul and I used to go out on a date to celebrate our birthdays, and I used to have a few birthday lunches with friends (colleague from work, friend from Bible study, etc.). I haven't really made plans to celebrate my birthday for the past 12 years, but last summer I made plans for my 48th birthday. I purchased tickets to see Esther on April 21, and we were also planning on touring Wheatland (home of the Buchanan - the only President from our state) and having lunch at Shady Maple Smorgasbord. Paul and the kids have never eaten there, and it's been a few decades since I've eaten there (not counting a funeral meal Paul and I ate in a private room at that establishment). We didn't spend my birthday in Lancaster. Paul spent it at work. He didn't get home until 9:20pm. The kids and I spent it at home. I had enjoyed taking a walk on Sunday and Monday, and I had hoped to do the same on my birthday. It was raining in the morning, but the skies looked clear in the afternoon so I decided to get some fresh air. The kids rode their bikes which enabled them to arrive back at home before I did, which was fortuitous for them. The last about 1/2 mile of the way home was downright miserable for me. The wind was gusting, the temperature dropped even more, and it was sleeting. It might have been hail. All I know was the parts of me that were exposed (face and hands) were being pelted, and it HURT. I was a dripping mess by the time I got home. My hair, pants, coat, shoes, and pants were drenched. My coat has a hood, but the wind kept blowing it off my head. I'm planning on waiting a few days before attempting another walk. I received five birthday phone calls yesterday - my sisters, a woman from church who calls people on their birthday and gives them a birthday verse, Paul's mom, and my Dad/Margie. I also received birthday texts from two aunts and three friends. I wanted to make chicken enchiladas for my birthday dinner, but we had too many leftovers in the frig. I'm making it tonight instead.




I've planned many vacations and weekend getaways over the years. There have been two times when we didn't go on a vacation even though we had already paid for our lodging through Interval (timeshare). Once we had a trip planned to Mexico that we ended up cancelling because I decided to teach additional classes at BU that particular summer to earn money towards our adoption expenses. Then in the fall of 2018 we had a trip to Williamsburg cancelled due to a hurricane. We ended up seeing those sites in May 2019 instead. Two getaways that were cancelled after making Airbnb reservations included a trip to Niagara Falls in the fall of 2017 (because I went back to work at BU), and a trip to Pittsburgh in August 2018 that was cancelled because our basement flooded. We didn't receive refunds from Interval either time, but we did receive full refunds from Airbnb both times. We ended up going to Niagara Falls in 2018. The trip to Pittsburgh wasn't rescheduled. This year I thought the kids and I would be going on five trips. The first was scheduled for earlier this month in Chicago, and the second was to MD/DC in May. Those have been cancelled. I'm assuming the trip to Chicago will not take place until the end of March 2021. I'm still hoping we will go to MD/DC at some point this summer, but some of the things that were planned for our trip next month won't likely happen until 2021 such as seeing the Blue Angels perform. The other three trips are scheduled for August (Long Island in the beginning of the month and Canada etc. the end of the month) and the first week of October (OH, KY, WV, PA). It's too soon to know if we'll be able to go on any of those three trips at this point. I hope so, but I also realize here's no guarantee due to the coronavirus.




The stay-at-home order has been extended in our state through May 8, and then at that point it will be lifted in some counties. We don't know yet if our county will be one of them. Obviously the counties that currently have less than 5 cases of COVID-19 will be included, but I have no idea what the cut-off will be. To be honest, the stay-at-home order is not what keeps us at home. If that order is lifted but the places we'd like to go are still closed, then we'll still be at home all of the time. Usually I make a bucket list for the summer, but I haven't made one for this summer in light of not knowing if we'll be able to go places and do things outside of our home.

1. Although we typically use the public library in the summer, I'm just hoping it will reopen by September. If the virus has a second wave and it seems there might be another lock down coming, I will go to the library and check out LOTS of books before that happens. I *almost* did that on March 13, but I remember thinking "surely the libraries won't be closed." WRONG! They have been closed since March 13 and are currently closed "indefinitely." I hope to learn from my mistake and stock up on library books if I think they might close again in the future due to a second wave of this virus or another virus.

2. I am thinking it might be a long time until churches are reopened. We have to get to phase 2 to be allowed to be in groups between 10-49 people. We don't even know when we'll enter phase 1 much less phase 2. They have said mass gatherings (ex. concerts) still won't be allowed even in phase 3, so what does that mean for a church which has an average weekly attendance of 1,500? Does that mean we can't return to church until 2021? If so, we might start going to a smaller church once the smaller churches are allowed to reopen.




3. Nadia is most concerned about being able to go to Camp Susque. The kids are signed up for camps in July. Will any of these actually take place? Nadia also is hoping to go to the nationals for Bible quizzing in Oklahoma in July.

4. We've never had a membership or season pass for an amusement park before. I started paying a monthly fee for a membership with Six Flags earlier this year. We had planned to visit five different Six Flags parks (NY, Quebec, MA, NJ, and MD) this summer. Will we actually be able to go to any amusement parks in 2020? I saw that Disney probably won't reopen until 2021. I hope that Six Flags will give us a full refund if they don't actually open their parks this year.

5. There are a variety of other field trips on our calendar in the coming months. Time will tell how many of those will actually be possible. I'm hoping that by sometime in June or July we can at least start doing SOME things outside our house. If we can't go on the two vacations (August/October) that involve hotel stays, hopefully we will receive full refunds. We need the US/Canada border to open within the next four months for one thing.




Ian has been working toward purchasing a Lego set. We don't give the kids an allowance. We give them money on their birthdays, $1 for losing a tooth, $5 for finishing their AWANA book for the year (Nadia earns $1 for memorizing 10 verses), $5 for finishing a level in piano, $1 for reading 1,000 pages, and money for doing extra chores. Yesterday Ian said he wanted to earn $2 so he helped me do extra chores for an hour. I was struggling to come up with enough chores to enable him to earn the amount of money he wanted. I had said earlier this year that I'd give the kids $2 if they memorized the Presidents. I knew that this coming school year I was going to have them learn all the countries of the world, many of the capitals, and the provinces of Canada. So I told Ian that if he learned the countries of North and South America I'd give him $2. On Monday I recorded a few videos of him playing his favorite songs from Level 4. He's now begun working on Level 5. I recently ordered him a book of piano solos that feature Star Wars music. I'd also like to get a book for piano duets (four hands on one piano). Today I recorded videos of him reciting the Presidents, countries of North America/ Central America, Caribbean, and South America. I stuck with countries. If an island is owned by another country (ex. Puerto Rico, Anguilla, Virgin Islands, Aruba, etc.) I didn't have him learn those. I'm planning on having him review them over the course of the year. He still needs to earn $3, but I went ahead and purchased the set on Amazon. I'm sure he'll earn the money before it arrives. Nadia has recently used her money to buy a Harry Potter light switch cover and clothes hamper as she wants to change her bedroom decor from butterflies to Harry Potter.