Taking a little time during my lunch break to catch up on some general writing, blogging, mini-project updates. I hope if you’re reading this that you’re doing well, and that your loved ones are doing well too.

Things here are pretty good. We have a few friends we’re worried about, who are dealing with positive test results, but I obviously will not mention their names here out of privacy. My immediate and extended family is also heavily active in medical care – nurses, PAs, workers at assisted living facilities, hospitals, etc. So while everyone in that circle is still okay, there are daily worries and prayers for everyone involved.

I’m now at the beginning of week eight of working from home. Max is on week 7 of remote school. He will officially be finishing his first grade year remotely. That makes me both relieved and sad at the same time, for obvious reasons, just as it does for one of my cousins who is graduating from high school this year – and sorority sisters graduating from college. It’s just so hard to see kids lose out on all of the rhythms of school that I took for granted as part of just what happened.

Max is doing pretty well with school so far. Each week it gets a little easier as he gets used to the system – and his teacher gets used to it, too. I know the teachers are having meetings, and I’m sure they’re sharing ideas of what they’ve found that works. I continue to be incredibly impressed with how adaptive his teacher has been, even as I can hear the exhaustion during her zoom meetings because it really just is an impossible thing. Trying to have a full class of 20 1st graders on a zoom meeting with various technology capability is just… rough. But she’s doing the best she can, and the kids are, too. I have learned that Max, unlike me, does NOT like to write. He tries to resist every writing project he’s given. But on the other hand, he loves doing math and is already at the stage where he doesn’t need to show his work – but after he answers a question, I have him go back and show how it would be done.

Work for me is going a bit better, too. It’s still very hard to balance the time demands of school, my usual job, and training others to help take some of my workload from me. I hope I’m doing okay and just keep plugging along. So far no work needs have gone unfilled, so I guess that’s something. I won’t lie – I don’t mind avoiding my commute! For the first time in fifteen years, I’ve had a sane commute. When we eventually go back to Boston, it’s going to be hard for me to get back into the swing of things. I wonder, though, if this will change things permanently as far as remote working goes. Will companies (including mine) start to think differently about needing people to be present in the office? Maybe we start sharing space a bit more?

Erich and I are making slow, steady progress through some house purging projects we’ve wanted to do. One whole room is now done, and bits of two others are, too. I figure if we focus on one room per week, we’ll have almost the entire house worked through by the 4th of July. The basement will likely take a while, though – there’s a lot down there. It’ll feel good to get it done, though. The only problem right now is that all of the locations we’d normally donate through are closed for both pickups and drop-offs. For now, we’ll just have to keep donations sorted on one side of the garage so we can get it all ready to move later.

Stitching has been a definite social relief. I’ve continued connecting weekly with friends on Zoom. I look forward to it every week, and actually make some good stitching progress! Nothing finished recently, but I have a couple pieces close.

If you didn’t see my last post, I’ve finally jumped into the “FlossTube” pool and made my first video. You can find my channel here. For now, I’m going to plan to update on Friday afternoons, and once I’m back at work that’ll likely shift to Saturdays.

And that’s about all going on here. We’re doing fine, keeping on keeping on. I hope the same is happening for you and yours.

Hugs to all, and May the Fourth Be With You,

Mel.