Birthdays and Quarantine

Well I didn’t delete my page on addiction. I have several people who follow it who asked me not to do so, so I left it up. It’s more geared toward grandparents who are raising grandkids due to their child’s addiction. So it’s still there… “My Grand Life” on Facebook.

Today is my daughter’s birthday. She is 38. I don’t even know how I feel about it. I don’t know where she is right now but I see that she posts on Facebook occasionally so I know that she is alive. Right now that has to be enough. I sent her a text wishing her a happy birthday, and I’m a little afraid of how she will respond. You never know with her.

As everyone knows we are in the midst of a pandemic. I’ve found it to be challenging and the government is calling it the “new normal.” I don’t think the people in this country will sit still for this new normal, but that remains to be seen. Right now we are supposed to stay at home and there are a lot of people who have lost their jobs because of it. My sister had to go on unemployment because her clothing shop is consider “non-essential.” The stores are having difficulty keeping shelves stocked and things like cleaning supplies, paper towels, and toilet paper are particularly hard to come by.

The schools are closed and so my boys are at home. They spend their days in pajamas either playing video games, watching television, or doing school work online. They are good kids. I am blessed.

Working from home is challenging. I don’t have an office so I’m set up in the living room. My dogs don’t understand why I’m home… they want to play, so I’m having to let them out more often. I have my work phone set up on my computer which is pretty cool, and all of our meetings are conducted via Microsoft Teams. I used to think that working from home would be awesome, but I miss my quiet (and sometimes hectic) office.

I’m not getting a lot of exercise these days (I miss walking around campus) since we can’t really go out. I probably should buy a harness for my dog and walk him… probably. I did start a new hobby though. I bought a ukulele and I’ve been learning to play it. I figured that it is small enough for me to take to work this summer and practice during downtime (there is a lot of downtime in the summer). I’ve been playing for three weeks and I can definitely see an improvement. Sometimes I get discouraged about my progress, and my sore fingertips, but then I tell myself that it’s only been three weeks and it will get better. Sometimes I think that it’s stupid to try to learn to play an instrument at my age, but I really love it… I do.

So we are working through this trying time and staying safe. So far we are all healthy, have food on the table and toilet paper… lol. We are blessed.