Things went a little downhill after that. Nothing terrible, to be sure, but I settled into a malaise of low energy and lack of accomplishment...and, if I'm honest, a suppressed-but-strong undercurrent of grief.
The worst part of all of this is not being able to visit my parents (and I'm keenly aware that having THIS as the worst thing means I am very, very fortunate). Have I mentioned this before? Why, yes! Yes, I have! I guess I don't need to state it all again, but not only am I sad that I can't go see my mom, I'm also very sad that my dad can't see her either! Even though they live in the same retirement community, her unit is completely closed to visitors, which I know is a very wise thing to do, but it breaks my heart even still. For once, I have a good reason to be thankful that her progression into Alzheimer's Disease is as far along as it is. If she were more aware, it would hurt even more to know that her loved ones weren't able to be with her. As it is, I'm not sure she has any awareness of that. I hope she doesn't. I hope she's not missing us.
Well, let me wipe the tears from my eyes, and move on from this topic...
So, where were we? Oh yes, we were on Wednesday, March 25 (Day 14).
That morning, instead of what we "should" have been doing--which is hosting the evangelist and women's leader of our DC congregation, LuJack and Cathi Martinez, for breakfast here--we connected online with them for our d-time (discipling time). We are all getting a little stretched in our use of technology, but oh, how different this time would be without it!
As far as the rest of Wednesday, I had proposed that we have a joke battle--I believe my original intention was to have it between Josiah and David--and video it, using David's filming and editing skills, to then post on YouTube. At some point, we decided to change it and have the whole family (minus Benjamin) involved; we would each take turns telling a joke and try to make each other laugh, all while keeping a straight face. Those who laughed would be eliminated from the contest.
Well, I knew right away that I would be eliminated first; I could barely tell my first joke without laughing! I have the dreadful habit of feeling a terrible urge to laugh at moments when I should certainly NOT laugh, so I knew there was no hope for me. But I gathered a couple of jokes to use, just in case I got past the first round, and I got a huge kick out of seeing the other members of the family round up the jokes they wanted to use in the contest. It was an afternoon of excitement and hilarity (better than how the actual event turned out, in fact).
Jeff made me absolutely crack up that afternoon when he told me this joke he had found:
Q: If you're American when you go in the bathroom, and American when you come out, what are you while you're in the bathroom?
A: European
(Say it aloud if you don't get it at first.) Oh my word, I nearly died laughing!!! :D
For dinner, I made chicken salad (my mom's recipe which made me even more nostalgic), roasted sweet potatoes (the sweet potatoes were a gift from our friend Brandie) with butter and brown sugar, and fresh orange slices.
That evening was our normal night for the women of our congregation to gather for midweek, so we gathered online. ;-) Cathi used YouTube to present her first lesson in a wonderful series about "Famous but Nameless" women of the Bible, so I tuned into that and enjoyed the way she tied the example of love we see in Don Quixote to the love of Jesus in John 4 as He interacts with the Samaritan woman.
And then we had the joke battle. :)
We decided we would use Jeff's phone to put it on Facebook live and David's phone to record it for future use after he edited it, so we got those set up as we gathered around the kitchen table with our jokes in hand. I managed to tell my joke (I insisted on going first so that I would have a chance to do something before I was eliminated!), then survive through a few other people telling theirs, until David got me out with his. Goodness!
Oh well, at least then I could freely laugh as the jokes continued, and I didn't even have to try to hold it in! :)
So...honest assessment...it was fun, but not a smashing hit. The phone we were using to record was far enough away from all of us that it really wasn't picking up the voices well, and the hilarity that had been so high in the afternoon had diminished by evening as people had more time with their jokes. We ended up deleting the recording of it because it just wasn't worth keeping.
I think it would have been more effective if we had only featured two people (Josiah v. David, or David v. Jeff, or Josiah v. Jeff) so they could have gone head to head, and if they had not prepared their own jokes but had been given slips of paper with jokes on that they had never seen before so the newness of them would have tickled their funny bone, too. Perhaps if this quarantine continues for long enough, we'll get around to trying again!
When the next day began, Thursday, March 26 (Day 15), I still felt the uneasy sense of not being energetic or focused enough to be productive, along with the frustration of feeling like I was wasting this time! Here I had intended to do so much during this enforced time at home, but I wasn't managing to actually accomplish it! What was wrong with me? If I couldn't get it (it=any number of household projects I should be doing) done at this point in time, when could I? After all the kids leave home in another decade and a half?? So, I was discouraged. However, let me tell you about the good parts of this day!
One thing I was enjoying quite a bit was the relaxed time in the mornings to wake up usually without an alarm and then spend an extended period of time reading the Bible, reviewing notes from sermons and spiritual lessons, reading other spiritual books, or whatever else I decided to do during my quiet times. It was wonderful to be relaxed, not rushed, during that time in the morning.
Also, I noticed what good buddies Moriah and Benjamin are for each other. Sure, they have their moments of conflict, but on this day (and most days) there were many, many moments of peace and fun--whether coloring pictures together, playing with the new horse barn playset, or jumping on the trampoline. I am always grateful when I see my children playing happily together.
Another completely unexpected and heartwarming aspect of this day was that one of our dear brothers in the church here surprised us by sending us $50 through Cash App for our dinner that evening; we were astonished and uplifted by his kind generosity! Rather than getting takeout for the family, Jeff decided to use that to buy some groceries, including salmon, a huge treat for us. Jeff went to Aldi and got it, then prepared it for us with his amazing secret sauce recipe, and we gobbled it up for dinner, along with a yummy quinoa salad that I first tasted at my friend (and college roommate) Jackie's house a couple years ago. It was a delicious dinner, made even more scrumptious by the sweet gift behind it!
The next day, Friday, March 27 (Day 16), I fought to find moments of joy and peace and gratitude in the midst of my foggy soul. To give just one example, I discovered that the mint that grows profusely in the side flowerbed was tall enough to harvest some for tea. Mint tea is another sentimental part of my childhood, just like my mother's chicken salad, and I relished the cool refreshment of homemade mint tea--a small but important blessing on this day.
Certainly another blessing on this day, and nearly every day unless bad weather is prohibitive, is the trampoline--the gift I asked for last year for my birthday. :) If you could add up the HOURS of enjoyment that my kids (as well as visiting friends) have received from it, it would be worth millions. On this particular day, I captured some pictures of the kids having a blast on it, especially because the Bigs (Josiah and David) joined the Middles (Tobin and Shav) and the Littles (Moriah and Benjamin) to all jump together. So very exciting! You should have heard Moriah shriek when she heard that even Josiah was going to jump! :)
Dinner that evening was Santa Fe Chicken Soup, a simple-to-prepare, tasty-to-eat soup that always reminds me of my friend Julie who gave me the recipe quite a few years ago. :) We rushed through dinner a little because of Bibletalk, our virtual meeting of friends that has grown from a circle that would fit in our living room to one that stretches all the way to California and Hawaii! The best part of it was having our brother-in-law Mike tune in from San Diego as he walked on his treadmill, and we also got to see glimpses of some of the rest of the rest of our beloved family there and even chatted a minute with Jeff's mom (and speaking of dear, sweet, wonderful Grandma Fisher, we had planned for her to fly here in mid-April and stay with us for about 6 weeks, a visit we were looking forward to with much anticipation...but of course, COVID-19 has affected that, as it has everything else). :(
After Bibletalk, we stayed up late to do my choice of family activity; and after deliberating, I chose for us to play Phase 10. I think it may have been a mistake - haha! :) It got late, we were tired, the game went on and on, and the silliness came forth. Well, of such moments, memories are made! :) We ended it after 6 phases, and I happened to be winning then. :) It was nearly midnight after all.
I was exhausted, but as it turned out, I stayed up a couple more hours to write a blog post--go figure! I knew I could sleep in the next morning; and I'm really, REALLY appreciating having this written record of these historic days, so it seemed worthwhile to lose a little sleep for it.
If this quarantine goes on for 70 more days, however, I might get tired of doing this!
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