This morning we all went to watch Ammon play his soccer game at 9am. He scored a goal!!! We were all so proud, but Abe, who actually cares about sports, seemed extra enthusiastic. We all made a really big deal about it until by the end of the day Ammon was announcing jubilantly to everyone who would listen that he scored two goals! (He actually only scored one, but the ball hit him on the way in in the second case, and he is completely convinced he hit it in himself.)
After soccer we drove to a fun park in Pleasant Grove next to the Murdock Trail. Lydia and I biked for forty-five minutes while Abe and the other kids played. That was such a gift. I know biking is one of Abe’s most favorite things but he was so insistent that I go with Lydia, and that was such a kindness. Lydia and I had a peaceful, gorgeous ride. My favorite part was biking behind her, seeing her small frame, her pink bike, and the ribbons trailing from her handlebars as she happily biked along. The ribbons reminded me to cherish the passing moment of childhood, and Lydia is such a beautiful child.
Then Abe dropped me off at a spa to get a massage while he took the kids to lunch. When I was done we swapped places and he got a massage. It was my first day on Zoloft and on my period, and I didn’t sleep much last night so I was exhausted when we came home. I also have some pretty intense nausea that I assume is probably a side effect from the Zoloft. So after giving Ammon and Clarissa a shower (because they had gotten really dirty from eating in the car), I put Clarissa down and flopped on the couch. Pretty much for the rest of the day.
I have spent the rest of this day watching Der Spiegel news videos in German and reading German articles and feeling horrified at the little percentage I understood. QAnon has a presence in Germany and I could not believe my eyes and ears at their protests. Also, Nazis have been emboldened by all of the fascist world leaders, which is almost too much to comprehend.
Honestly, when it comes to handling Covid though, I don’t know what to believe. I am grateful my kids get to go to in person school because they both are so thrilled to be with friends, and I am thrilled not to have to juggle four kids all day. I feel much less personally stressed now that my girls are in school and Ammon and Clarissa go to preschool for two and a half hours twice a week. And I’m grateful we can use playgrounds and parks and do extra curriculars and see friends a bit more now. But I don’t personally know anyone with Covid, I haven’t lost anyone to the disease, and we haven’t come down with it ourselves. With how lax we’ve become it’s probably only a matter of time until we get it, so maybe I will be singing a different tune when that happens. But even though Utah politics drive me kind of semi-insane, in this one area I feel presently grateful for the fact that the state is as lenient as it is.