Life has been very busy since my last post! We’re getting so close to the move and there’s so much to think about before then — I’m glad I have this site as an outlet! Today I’ll just give a quick recap of some of we’ve been up to for the past 90 days. Then I’ll immediately get to work on a more substantial post about something very important (but very aggravating!) that I teased back in June.

DISNEY AT 50 (no, wrong 50th!)

July was my wife’s 50th birthday, so we planned yet another trip to Orlando so she could celebrate it there. This time the kids went along, so there really wasn’t much time for house hunting. We spent the first day shopping and playing and the second relaxing at the hotel and hanging out at a nearby attraction. On the third day the kids went to Hollywood Studios without the parents, while my wife drove about two hours south to spend the day with her parents. (I spent a quiet day at the hotel!) On her birthday we went to Disney Springs all day, ending with dinner at Paradiso 37. (The food was good, but the inside of the restaurant seemed surprisingly rundown.)

50th ANNIVERSARY (nope, still not that one!)

In August, my parents celebrated their 50th Anniversary. For the actual day, they drove to Mississippi to revisit the place where they first met. They went to the chapel where they were married to have a look around. The door was locked, but someone saw them as they were leaving, and (after explaining why they were trespassing!) he allowed them inside. A few minutes later, the chaplain came out to say hello, and asked if they wanted to renew their vows on the same spot 50 years to the day later! When they returned, we, they, and my sister and her husband went to the foothills of the Great Smokey Mountains to help celebrate as a family with them.

CURRENT HOUSE PROJECTS

I’ve mentioned before that we have three major projects to get done before the move, and that COVID had already delayed them more than we’re comfortable with. Well, posting to this site isn’t the only thing I’ve procrastinated on too long this summer!

However, the first of the three (new fence installation) has officially been started… meaning we have an estimate and a date! Once that is finished, we already have a guy ready to get started on project #2 (gutter installation). The third project (replacing all the flooring in the house) will happen closer to the move, because we have a cat that can’t be trusted not to tear up or urinate on new carpet!

BACK TO SCHOOL

Later in August, the kids were heading back to school. My son is starting his senior year of high school and my daughter is in her last year of college. As a stay-at-home dad of 21 years, this last “first day of school for the kids” experience feels a little weird! Not necessarily sad, but bittersweet. I’m happy they’re both about to start on the next leg of their journey’s through life, but knowing grade school will be over for both next year and the other will never have another first day of school is… strange!

My son started back to school after the COVID lockdowns during the spring. But for my daughter, these were her first in person classes since April 2020. And I was happy to see her really enjoying what will be her last year. But then…

COVID

After going 17 months without COVID reaching into our house, it finally struck in September. We’re all vaccinated and we started masking up again recently when needed. But it wasn’t enough. A hospital co-worker of my wife who refused to get vaccinated tested positive. My wife, who due to her medical condition takes drugs that suppress her immune system, had tried to convince the co-worker to get the shot, knowing she would be more at risk working next to an unvaccinated person. And of course that’s exactly what happened. So we’re all home quarantining for two weeks. We’re halfway through it at this point. Thankfully, after a rough couple of days, my wife is feeling relatively better. And luckily our in-home lockdown (aided by our vaccinations, I’m sure) have kept the rest of us from catching it so far. But it still sucks!

DISNEY AT 50 (yes, finally!)

The good news is that she tested positive early enough that if all goes well (with her recovery and me not catching it!) we should still be on for our trip to Disney World to celebrate the 50th anniversary in October. I hope to have a lot more on that next month!

But well before then look for another housing update. Because what else am I going to do locked up in quarantine for another week!