Saturday-Sunday, Days #70-71 Phase 2 of Reopening
We request continued prayers for my husband's mother D. She is recovering, now in a long-term, acute care facility, from COVID-19 and hasn't been home in seven weeks. We value communicating with her via FaceTime as often as the facility will facilitate, which is almost every day.
I'm on Day 3 of no coffee and quitting is going about as well as could be expected. Please pass the Advil.
This weekend, our 13-year-old played ice hockey for the first time since his rec league was suspended in March: more than two months! He definitely felt the challenges, but he sure is looking forward to his team resuming.
On Sunday morning, we experienced our first sunny and dry morning all week, so again I had a little entourage of fans trailing after me on my exercise walk.
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| Looking over my shoulder at Thomas silently following me |
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| David: "Wait for me, Mama! Wait!" |
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| Boys climbing trees while I walk loops |
Our family did a May Crowning in between weekend rain showers, as this was the first year in many years that I was unable to host the parish May Crowning (and ice cream social!) due to the coronavirus lockdown.
Coincidentally, I got to start two read-alouds in one day! Yay, that is so fun! I had just finished reading The Saturdays (1941) by Enright to the littlest boys, so we got to pick a new story. Joseph (7) protested my choosing The Railway Children (1906) by Nesbit, but by the end of the first chapter, he was gripped, begging for more, and quietly tearful due to the somber beginning.
Meanwhile, I had expressed to Chris that I really want to be reading aloud to the older children during the summer. He volunteered to take over the second half of our little boys' bedtime routine so that I can get done with that quicker and have time to read to the big ones: that's a deal! Thus, on Sunday night, there was a heated debate over various books put forth as options. Ultimately, I chose Shadows on the Rock (1931) by Willa Cather with the caveat that I will read a few chapters and am willing to try a different book if the children are not engaged.
How blessed am I that my children 9, 11, and 13 still eagerly gather around if I make time to read to them? To families starting out, I strongly advise to make reading aloud a part of your family culture!
Mostly the weekend was eaten up by chores and tasks that outnumber me such that they are never done. We did manage to carve out time between rain to go swimming and we watched a family movie: I am behind on two movie reviews for my blog!
FWIW, it might be easier to try stepping down to half-caf (half regular/half de-caf) first, and then to decaf before getting rid of it. The caffeine deprivation headaches are not fun! (I had to go off coffee while I was in the hospital in February 2019 because I can't drink it hot, and I was pretty sure the nutrition staff was not going to hit up the Whidbey Coffee Company kiosk for me, given that I was in an isolation room. When I had my hysterectomy 8 months later, I was on some lovely pain meds that made me not even notice the headaches.)
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