Social Distancing Diaries: Day 32

Dear Diary

Eden wants me to have “Office Hours”—dedicated time scheduled in the day when family members can come to me with questions. I was inclined to dismiss this suggestion outright because I’m pretty sure people are still going to ask me questions at other times throughout the day. But maybe it’s actually a good idea. Or at least an idea worth trying. I wonder if lunchtime could be considered “Office Hours” time because it’s a high need time. I also wondered if proof-reading college papers falls into “Office Hours” because that can take a chunk of time. <Sorry, Hayley—she hates the word ‘chunk’.> The more I think about it, the more intrigued I am by the idea of Office Hours. Stay tuned…

Ellen and I went for a walk this morning, and against my better judgement I talked way too much about COVID-19. Eventually Ellen politely stopped me and asked if we could talk about something else. I said we could talk about rainbows and unicorns, so we did. Incidentally, we both agree on what a unicorn should look like.

Lily is on Day 2 of “Hammocking”. She set up Hayley’s hammock under the deck and spends hours out there. It helps that the wi-fi signal remains strong there. She even joined her math class Zoom in the hammock today. A highlight of Lily’s 6th grade career was being selected for the team that does the morning announcements, DIS Live (imagine a local news staff). It’s the thing she misses the most about online schooling. This morning the team put together a social distancing version of DIS Live. She said it felt kind of awkward, but I think she’s glad to be able collaborate with her team again. Thanks to the teachers that made that possible!

Last night Eden attended virtual Youth Group where they discussed different names for God. Today’s assignment was to select one of those names and create a picture incorporating the name. Eden is not known for spending much time on art projects, but with a little design collaboration with mom, she spent about 1.5 hours working on this piece! I went outside to mow the grass for an hour and came back in and she was still working on it. I’m so proud!

Ellen is part of a (I kid you not) Soul Care Companionship group. It’s a student version of Spiritual Direction training. Sounds hooey, but it’s cool. Tonight she shared her spiritual autobiography. Her take away? “It’s interesting to talk about your life not from the perspective of what you did.” Wow. I thought that was really profound, so I included it here. You’re welcome.

Not to leave anyone out, Hayley spent a good *chunk* (!) of the day selecting classes for next semester. Thankfully her sister Ellen specializes in course selection. She thrives on it. So Ellen helped out Hayley. Hayley was selected to be an RA next year! I’m so proud of her because I know she’s going to be great! She learned so much last year on the World Race and now she’ll have an opportunity to share those lessons with others. I can’t wait. I hope she’s as excited as I am!