documentation

 it is, really, during the tumult

that one should document ~

yet i have discovered a reluctance

to give this tumult any more of my focus

while navigating through it.

i need some distance. yet...

with distance, i know i will forget

to a degree.

i seem to have put down my camera

during the past six months of the pandemic.

i might snap a quick photo or two on my phone,

but i haven't prowled for a more lasting story

for a number of months.

~ ~ ~

i'm wondering if part of me just doesn't want to remember

~ ~ ~

there was some hopeful transition in late summer,

with Joseph heading back to university,

Samuel engaged in non-virtual work,

and we parents gearing up for our academic years.

but it didn't last, and there were soon

four adults back in our house,

navigating (once again) the space

& all the other negotiations of shared living.

~ ~ ~

in a way, we were (at least from my vantage point)

almost at the 'perfect' place for a year suspended.

our kids still had one foot in the nest, & it was

(relatively)

easy enough for them to put both feet back in

and perch on the edge, waiting

waiting waiting waiting

for their lives to be less entwined with ours.

& i have treasured this bonus time with them

and the time they've had together

~ ~ ~

here are some general statements about the pandemic at home:

* i added a few more mastered cooking items to my repertoire

(& actually discovered i enjoy cooking, at least

when there's really not much else to do)

* thankful for so many things...

continued health / no home-schooling or childcare to figure out /

a house with multiple work spaces / employment for all of us /

and that the COVID-19 vaccines are here!

* nature.  nature is the bomb & what is getting us through

* actually, i take that back. my family. my three guys.

they are the bomb

& what is getting me through

~ ~ ~

here are a few photos that may or may not capture all of this

view from Laurel Bluff Trail ~ Greensboro, NC

at Basin Creek Trail, Doughton Park, NC

one of several porch visits with my parents

Samuel's gig with Progressive Turnout Project - VOTE!

Joseph just prior to returning to UNC

me in my PPE at my school (in my office)

parental unit get-away to the beach!

Samuel & Joseph at early voting!

Samuel's gig with PTP went virtual early on

thank goodness for the awesome trail system in Guilford County!

family selfie before Christmas Day 2020 soccer game

& hope for the future

right now, we're all waiting to hear 

when WHEN WHEN

we can get the vaccine!

and i start to see a glimmer of being able to plan

for a return to a more free way of living.

hope we remain virus-free until then.

trying so hard.