Making Up for 2 Months

One can’t hope to develop and retain faithful readers of one’s blog if one lets months go by between posts.

I have left large gaps in the blog before and will no doubt do it again. Not sure why exactly, but here it is 2 months since the last time I wrote. We are about to teeter into a New Year, and if I were to make a New Year’s resolution, perhaps it might be to try to regularly write.

Having grown increasingly disillusioned with some of the laws and regulations coming out of the state government in Sacramento, my brother’s daughter and husband decided they did not want to raise their children in California, and so they packed up and moved to Idaho in September. Daniel decided he wasn’t going to let his daughter and grandkids go without him, so he and his wife also packed up and moved to Idaho. 

It was sort of a shock for the rest of us that they did that… that they’re gone, but I get why they did. We did the same thing in 1979 when we decided we didn’t want to raise our son in Southern California, so we packed up and moved to Oregon and then later moved here.

But it now means that when I am able to travel again, I won’t be able to make a one-stop visit and see both of my brothers and sister. If I want to see Daniel, his wife, and the grands, I’ll have to go to Idaho. They are certainly having some adventures and are experiencing Winter for the first time in their lives. 

I’ve forgotten what it is like to have an adventure, so it might be a very good thing for me to do.

The pandemic had the most affect on our Thanksgiving. We don’t have family here, but for about the last 10 years we been invited to our friends’ house to share the meal. They did invite us, along with at least 1 other person, but at about that time, the number of COVID cases in our rural county had gone through the roof. There was a significant backlash in the next largest town down the road about wearing masks in public and social distancing, and it filtered into our town as well.

We just did not feel safe eating in a group, and so declined the invitation. Other people we know did have Thanksgiving with friends and family and did fine, so I suppose we were being too cautious. We had a good meal and a pleasant day at home.

I did end up getting a COVID test, something I would not care to do again anytime soon, because I got a very bad cold about a week before Christmas and thought for sure I had it. But the test was negative (whew!), and I am better now.

We sent my brother a microwave popcorn popper, which we use and love.

Our mom used to call Daniel “Mr Sobersides” because he was always so serious, but my brother has a mischievous sense of humor, which played out on Christmas day. We received a small box from him and when we opened it…

We laughed and laughed. It made for a very happy Christmas