When people ask you -- which do you want first, the good news or bad news, what do you say? I would bet nice sums of money that most want the bad first. You really appreciate the gift of good news after you've been hit with the bad.
We, of course, are still processing some family bad news from yesterday, so we should be home free now, right? Onto the good? Wrong! This is 2020: never underestimate the power of this year to throw darts at those who dare to live with a smile on their face! So perhaps predictably (and to be honest, I expected this), I got a call early this morning that my mom has Covid. She has been with flu like symptoms for over a week now and each day that she described how she was feeling had me convinced that she had not escaped the virus in her assisted living facility. (One of the aides was diagnosed with it just last week.)
And now on to what we think is good news: her symptoms would indicate that most likely she has been infected for well over a week. She has not shown signs of growing worse or going over a cliff. The nurse who was with her today said she'll probably be done with the virus by Christmas. She has no respiratory issues (just other issues) and is going about her business in much the same way that she did last week or the week before.
Picking up on these more upbeat threads, I will say that our day, too, was, despite the tumult, much like the days of last week and the week before.
Breakfast, that never changing morning routine...
Followed by the arrival of the kids.
Yesterday had been tough for Snowdrop as she suffered the loss of her grandpa, but today she rallied. In the farmhouse, she often puts aside many of the worries that can hover over a little girl's life. It surely is an escape place. A comfy dish of mac and cheese and a warm mug of apple cider. (She actually consumes neither, but you know what I mean.) Sparrow, of course, is too young to be made sad by events that happen outside of his field of vision and today he follows her lead in rather rowdy play...
(Stickers, from her teacher, now on the farmhouse play room wall...)
I let them get away with it, though only for a short while. Books calm them down and eventually, they settle into favorites. Sparrow digs out the magnet girls...
... and reaches for the box of rubber puzzles. He does these methodically, precisely. It's as good as soothing music for him.
Snowdrop? She (like all kids who play here, at the farmhouse) never tires of bringing out the toy foods and cakes and macarons.
School is good: Snowdrop learns to cut out snowflakes ..
And outside play is finest of all.
Well, for Snowdrop more than for Sparrow. The little guy claims to like snow play, but I think he's putting up a brave front.
Whereas the girl could keep on playing forever in her "magic meadow of snow."
Toward dusk, Ed and I head out to ski yet again in our local park. I need the movement (I only missed one day in my 10 000 step goal since the beginning of October, so I continue to aim high each day!), but even more so, I need the forest bath. And the beautiful expanse of prairie that makes the mush in your head dissolve into a sea of quiet.
