Oh geez. It's been almost 4 years since I have entered anything in here. LOTS has happened, obviously. Firstly, we had or are in a pandemic. Imagine that. Covid-19 hit the world in late 2019 in Wuhan China but the first reported case in the US was right here in Washington in January 2020. Patient zero, he was called. There was also a horrible outbreak (& deaths) in a Kirkland Senior Home in Feb 2020 - the first US death. National news was upon quiet little Kirkland.
Words that come to mind when I think of Covid: Coronavirus, quarantines, lockdowns, closed borders, vaccination debates, Moderna, Pfizer, anti-vaxxers, mask-wearing, anti-maskers, supply chain shortages, worker shortages, work-from-home, isolation, school at home, remote, loneliness, mental health issues, PCR tests, empty shelves in stores (no toilet paper to be seen), George Floyd riots, Black Lives Matter, social distancing, 6 ft apart, nature returns, no traffic, social pods & bubbles, Zoom gatherings.
Borders closed in mid-March of 2020 and didn't reopen to Canadians until July 2021. The last time I was in Vancouver before the borders closed was for Uncle Bob's Celebration of Life. He passed away on Feb 19th (dad's birthday) and his service was the 1st weekend of March. Then the borders closed almost right after that weekend. And almost without notice, school went remote.
Mrs Tennis continued to teach Madison's 8th grade class and did a stellar job. It was her final hurrah as she was retiring. From what I heard from everyone else in public school, not much learning was happening during that time. Teachers didn't even know what to do.
With the borders closed, that was the longest time away from home. I saw my mom, brother & my in-laws twice during the time when we found a loophole and were able to meet at Peace Arch State Park. I saw them around Canadian Thanksgiving Oct 2020 and then around Mother's Day of May 2021.
Uncle Hong passed away on June 25, 2020. He hadn't been feeling well, he also had lung cancer which was diagnosed late 2018. He went to the hospital a couple of times. We were able to Facetime him the day before. He was in good spirits. We joked around. Teased him about the cute nurses. We prayed at the end. I did not think that that would be the last time I would see him. He seemed so good. We miss him terribly. He had such a big positive influence in our family. He was not part of our extended family. He was part of our nucleus.
Madison spent her last months of Stella Schola middle school and most of her 1st year of Juanita high school (Cambridge Program) doing school remote. Madison was one of the valedictorians in 8th grade. Did her speech...virtually.
Jaclyn spent her last months of 10th grade at Inglemoor HS and most of her 11th grade remote. Traffic was quiet. Everyone was mandated to stay at home. We were able to do house projects. If soccer wasn't halted, the kids had to practice in pods. Those soccer practices were the only times my kids ventured out of the house. There were no games, no contact. Practicing soccer 6 feet apart.
Michael even worked at home - doing telehealth. Then when he did start to see patients in person, he only saw them on Tuesdays and Fridays, and that was for more than a year. Now he is almost back to full-time.
And now in 2022, Jaclyn graduated from Inglemoor High School in the International Bacc Program. She graduated as salutatorian which is 2nd place since she didn't graduate with a 4.0. She graduated 3.9947! And now in a couple short weeks, she will be heading to University of Washington Foster School of Business.
When she was in 11th grade, she & her partner Nicole, came in 3rd in International DECA...which was done virtually...in the category of Team Entrepreneurship. I didn't realize what an accomplishment that was until I chaperoned her school when they went to International DECA in 12th grade in Atlanta in April 2022. It was a HUGE turnout - probably 14,000 competitors from all over North America. She didn't make the final cut that time but it was still a huge accomplishment. When we got back from Atlanta, we both got Covid. Probably Omicron because our symptoms were minimal. I think the worst sympton I had was a runny nose on the 3rd day of my quarantine. Jaclyn lost her voice. Madison also got it but I think she got it from school. Her symptoms were more severe with cold & flu-like symptoms. She still played soccer because her home test showed negative (but later her PCR came positive.
In 2020, we were still able to do some activities or family getaways. One memorable trip was a river rafting in Oregon with the Ollis family. We did our best to self-isolate for 2 weeks prior to the trip so that we could travel with everyone without masks. We each had our own rafts, ate our own food (not shared). Then right after that trip, we headed to Stella Blue Lake for waterskiing with the Wrights. So much fun.
In 2021, with everything quiet, with not many people travelling, we made some wonderful family trips. We went to Maui in February. Used timeshare points and found a great location by the beach. Jaclyn got an abscess in her ear so that limited some water activities. But it was still a great trip. Madison was able to do school remote (but had to wake up super early to attend). Our 2nd trip was in April - we stayed at Kerry's place in Vegas and then headed to Utah to Bryce Canyon & Zion National Park. That was amazing. Bryce is a beautiful National Park. Fun activities in Vegas were family massage, escape rooms, go-carting at Pole Position. We also did another trip to Stella Blue Lake in July 2021 for some great waterskiing and fellowship.
At the end of April 2021, kids returned to school in person but with strict safety protocols. Life slowly returned to normal...or now we are in a new normal. (We can not go back to the way life was before.)
Lots of jumping around trying to sum up 4 years. I didn't even touch 2019. What was life like before Covid?
Oh, here is something from 2019, we got a rabbit named Charlie. Jim wanted us to rabbit-sit for him in Oct 2019 for 2 weeks. I didn't want to, at first, but then Madison said she wanted to to. I ended up doing most of the caring and cleaning. Jim came back from his 2-week trip from Norway only to find his Point Roberts place flooded while he was away. So back comes Charlie (we missed him anyways). It's literally impossible to get work done in Point Roberts. Workers & supplies have to come from the US, not Canada. And then Covid hit so forget any work geting done on Jim's house. And we still had Charlie. After 4+ months, I admitted he was ours to keep and moved him from the basement to the main floor. So what was supposed to be a 2-week rabbit sitting gig is now almost coming up 3 years. Charlie has been a great Covid pet. He pretty much takes over the whole upstairs now (except the kitchen) hopping around like he owns the place. That little 3+ lb fellow owns us.
