Last Day!

Today is the kids last full day of camp. I hope they have been having a wonderful week! I am thankful that the camp posted pictures and videos on Facebook so I have been able to see glimpses of my precious children even when I can't be with them, talk to them, or hear from them by letter or email. I cannot wait to wrap my arms around them tomorrow morning! I worked really hard on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday I only did a little bit of work around the house since I spent a good chunk of the day with my friend. Yesterday I got my hair cut, did some grocery shopping, stained the front door (had a bit of a fiasco with the polyurethane), made a 111 page photo book on Shutterfly (first one in 6 1/2 months), ordered some prints, wrote each of my kids a poem for their final email which will be delivered to them at dinner at camp this evening, and painted a gallon of DryLok on the basement walls. The price of eggs has been rather volatile for years, but still I was happy to see the price had dropped back to where it was prior to COVID-19. What made me FAR happier was the fact that our local grocery store had ground beef on sale for $1.99/lb. YAHOO! The only time I had purchased ground beef over the past four months was for Andrew's birthday dinner and Nadia's birthday dinner - and on both occasions I had to pay more than $4/lb. I bought more ground beef yesterday than I usually do at one time just in case I have to wait a few more months for it to be at my price point again. I think we'll have goulash for dinner on Saturday night, as that's one of the kids' favorite meals, and we haven't had it in a few months because of not having ground beef. This morning I mowed the lawn and painted a second gallon of DryLok on the basement walls. I've listened to several audiobooks, watched two movies with Paul, and finished reading The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys. Tonight I'm planning to watch Hamilton on Disney+. I think it will be extremely difficult for me to reenter the field of higher education in ten years. I'm hoping and praying that Paul might agree to take in some foster children at that point. It's one thing to be at home by myself for five days. I don't want to be at home by myself for months and years on end.

On July 1 our Governor announced that effective immediately masks must be worn every time you leave your house. Well call me a rebel, but I didn't wear one when I mowed the lawn today. I'm only going to wear a mask when a business asks me to do so (ex. at Six Flags or in a store). Prior to this most businesses had signs saying you should wear them on the inside of the store. For example when we visited Reptiland they said we had to wear masks when were inside but not when we were outside. A few weeks ago when I visited our local hardware store the employees were wearing masks, and they had a sign asking customers to wear masks. When I went to the hardware store on June 30, the sign had been changed to saying that masks are optional and an employee will put one on if you ask them to do so. I saw only one customer wearing a mask and everyone else I saw that day (employee or customers) wasn't wearing a mask on Tuesday. I saw online yesterday that the hardware store has gone back to requiring masks because of what he signed on July 1. Our church said that they were not changing their mask policy. We are asked to wear a mask as we enter and exit the building but can still take it off once we're seated in the sanctuary. I'm grateful we still won't be required to wear one during the service. I'm guessing the declaration of stricter masks regulations is because the number of people testing positive in the US is continuing to rise. I think it's because they have been increasing the number of people tested every day. If you go to the hospital for anything, you have to be tested for COVID-19. Paul will be tested prior to his upcoming colonoscopy. When I look at the chart below I don't think "Oh No the rate of positives is going up!". I think "Good, the daily death rate continues to decline." I never see GOOD news like that if I click open a browser on the Internet. Everything seems to be worded in a way to inspire doom and gloom or make people more fearful. Why???? 

But our church did decide to postpone the reopening of the kids' and youth classes indefinitely this week. They were going to reopen on July 12. I am very disappointed. Part of the reason I don't understand it is because I have read multiple articles about how children are at very little risk with COVID-19. One article said a child has a greater chance of being struck by lightning than dying of COVID-19. From February 1- June 30 the CDC reported that 29 children from birth through the age of 14 died of COVID-19. During that same time span, 100 children in that same age group died of Influenza. The CDC has said, "Children, including non-school-age infants, are seven times more likely to die of the flu every year than of COVID-19 and 10 times more likely to be hospitalized by the flu." The American Academy of Pediatrics said this recently, "Not only are children not at risk, but they do not contribute to community spread. Although children and adolescents play a major role in amplifying influenza outbreaks, to date, this does not appear to be the case with SARS-CoV-2." The last time our church had classes for kids was March 8. I would never have dreamt there would ever be a time they'd be closed for more than 4 months straight. The youth chorale Nadia and Ian were in last fall contacted us to see if we would be interested in a virtual choir this fall. Nope. We'll wait until they return for an in person choir, but who knows when that might happen. I think "normal" is a long way off and abnormal is here to stay for awhile (I don't like the term "new normal"). My kids not being here at home with me is definitely abnormal. I'm grateful we'll be going to back to normal in that regard after I pick them up tomorrow morning. I really miss them!!! But I absolutely loved camp when I was a kid, and I hope they've had a wonderful week. I can see from pictures that they've been kayaking, hiking, on a slip and slide, in a swimming pool, helped with some meal preparation, and done some target practice (archery and hatchet throwing). I'll hear all about it tomorrow on our drive back home! Usually we listen to an audiobook when we have a longer drive, but tomorrow I want to hear all about camp far more than I want to hear more of The Misadventured Summer of Tumbleweed Thompson, which was the book we were listening to before they went to camp.