I believe it was February 10 I had taken
a personal day to be with my group of friends that I’ve been hanging out with for
the last two or three years after the pool and once a month when the pool is
closed. We enjoy going to Soco and
visiting outdoors but when it has gotten colder, we have gone to Good
Dogs. Our meetings have usually gone for
less than two hours, but on the 10th we were there for over three.
Sue got in trouble – first with the
owner as she had parked her car in front and it should be reserved for other
customers. Apparently her husband was
not all that thrilled she had been gone so long. They put me in charge of this month. We were supposed to meet at lunch at a nearby
place which offers Mexican food. I
thought this week would be good as I would be off during spring break. We had no clue than that spring break would
turn out not to be much of a break afterall (or perhaps too much of a break - depending on how it is viewed).
Caroline really wished for the four of
us to get together this month and had suggested a picnic at Millsite. I was the only one willing and able as the
other two are now housebound – and I think after today, we are too – which has
been really hard for Jenna. Facing the
reality that her “sweet sixteen” will not be even close to what she had
planned. I know of at least one person
who didn’t feel his plans were disrupted and is enjoying the opportunity of
solitude – something that Jenna just doesn’t relate to.
So Jenna and I met Caroline at an order-to-go
where Caroline purchased a fish sandwich.
Jenna saw a friend in line and gave her a hug. I joked that that was not socially acceptable
and they resorted to elbow bumps.
Caroline was freaked at the amount of people and how closely they were
standing to one another. Jaime and I
were scolded and kept our distance as Caroline waited for her sandwich. She had
already made it clear that we would not be going in the same car and asked me
to follow her.
There was tranquility to a degree as we
sat at a table and ate our sandwiches and then Caroline showed us around and
took us to the river – which by the way was gorgeous. Except for the sounds of the occasional cars
driving by, I felt secluded from the rest of the world. It was an awesome place to be.
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| Jenna took all of the photos; this one is of a labyrinth. Unfortunately could not capture all |
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| We did not play checkers or even had any games. It may not have gone over well for Caroline to touch game pieces that had not been sanitized each round |
After returning home, I have decided
that perhaps we should not venture out of the house anymore until things return
to normal - will there be a normal? We have enough food and water
supply to last several months should it come to that. Right now our governor seems optimistic that
schools will be opening April 28th.
Meanwhile California and Washington have reported no more school for
this school year. I can’t imagine that
things will be brighter for us in 5 weeks and not the rest of the west coast –
or country – or world.
I think this year is the most I have
ever looked forward to general conference. April 4th and 5th. Tune in. Even if you are not of the LDS faith but are having issues with the pandemic - the broadcast will help calm you. You'll see.
