Social Distancing Diaries: Day 84

Dear Diary

We made it to Yellow! Congratulations, Lancaster County! Besides more businesses being allowed to open, I don’t anticipate much changing for us. In fact, Tom visited his doctor today for a check-up and after receiving his doctor’s opinion on COVID-19 I’m almost ready to lock down again! For good or bad, I don’t follow much news, so it caught me off guard that half the state moved to Green today. I thought Green wouldn’t happen until the fall. That prompted me to look up what “Green” actually meant. News Flash: Green doesn’t mean “GO!” Green still means “Proceed with caution.” I feel so conflicted when making decisions about what we’ll allow for our family. In some ways it seems so arbitrary and my feelings of inadequacy are exacerbated when the kids ask me specific questions like, “Why can we do X but you won’t let us do Y? Are we allowed to do Z?” At some moments I feel confident in our decisions and other moments I feel like throwing up my hands and flinging the doors open wide. “Go do whatever you want! I have no idea!”

I find ice cream to be immensely helpful in times like this. That’s why I recommend to you Mulberry Thrill outdoor ice cream shop in Marietta! I was a frequent visitor there last summer and tonight our family was invited to a special Friends and Family night. What a treat it was! They have some special new things in store for this summer so stay tuned. And follow them on Facebook.

Family Ice Cream Selfie

Eden and Lily were intending to set up the tent in the backyard and sleep outside tonight. Since I didn’t feel like going all out, I convinced them to downsize their plan to setting up the pop up tent on the deck and sleeping out there. A few years ago Eden won a pop up duck blind tent at a sportsman expo we attended. (Side Note: Eden has a knack for winning prizes. That year she only wanted one prize and it was the duck blind tent. Wouldn’t you know, she won it!) The tent resides (folded up) behind the sofa because occasionally it gets set up in the living room as a sort of fort. So they set it up on the deck this afternoon after I checked the weather app and felt confident there was no rain in the forecast. Oddly, as the afternoon wore on the sky began to darken. Tom decided to move the tent (and the sleeping pads they had already assembled) into the house just in case… He’s so wise! It did indeed rain. It was a torrential downpour! The camp out became a camp in—in the living room. So far so good!