Well, 2020 is certainly off to an interesting start. We've cancelled all three of our planned trips - Tennessee (Nashville and Chattanooga) in May, Montreal for the JFL Festival in July, and Maine (Acadia National Park) for our anniversary in October. Obviously, traveling is not the priority right now and we recognize how privileged we are that Evan is able to work from home and our lives are able to carry on relatively normally minus 10+ weeks sequestered from my parents.
It's heartening how quickly people can adapt to major life changes. It was a really hard adjustment at first - while I've been a stay-at-home mom since AJ was born, I was accustomed to getting some relief from my parents. That said, after several weeks we've developed ways to accommodate Evan working at home, we've made room for daily family walks, and we've divvied up all the chores in an equitable way.
Now that things are slowly opening up the new normal more or less still stands. We've started to see my parents again but because of that we're still extra cautious about exposure risks. We don't spend time with anyone else and we're continuing delivery and contactless grocery pickups.
I do feel like this time has made moments of leisure so much more gratifying. When we knew we would be cancelling all of our trips and getting that money back, we decided to channel those resources into improving our home. We got an umbrella for our deck so when the weather is nice and AJ is napping, I go out there and read. We also put in a patio and landscaping on our ground level. It's just gorgeous. AJ has already taken advantage of her water table and soon we'll set up her splash pad.
Now that my parents are back in the caregiving rotation, Evan and I have had a few chances to get out by ourselves. So far this has meant taking a hike or walk where we can safely social distance. Today was a particularly special treat. This year (I imagine it has something to do with the pandemic) the Inn at Little Washington offered a Spring Grounds and Gardens Tour. As soon as Evan and I heard about it and knew that my parents would be willing to watch AJ we were in! For a reasonable $50 a person we were given a guided tour with a lot of gardening tips (Evan was listening closely) and then a generously packed lunch box with delicious fillings.
Even though we were outside, we still wore masks. We were pleased that the vast majority of the participants were also masked. Interestingly, the only people I saw without masks were an older couple, you know, the most vulnerable population. To each his own!
We picnicked in two Adirondack chairs positioned under a shady tree with a panoramic view of the mountains. It was amazing. As I said earlier, times like these help you to appreciate the simpler things. I can't even express how much we needed and cherished those moments of quiet serenity. I only wish we could've stayed longer. But I guess that's just part of being a parent. We can only take brief breaks from reality before we realize we should get home and relieve the babysitters. We're glad we had this time even if it passed too quickly.
We picnicked here, in the far right corner of the "Field of Dreams".
They're able to grow about 50% of the produce they need onsite.
There are two llamas on the property and this is Marcus:
Egg-laying hens!
