Covid, you big dummy head.
I'm usually pretty good at seeing the positives in situations... but this one is making it tough. Covid-19 is just sucking the joy out of things. I know this sounds trite to say in the face of something that is taking lives- so no sleight is meant here.
Our school decided (as many did) to go virtual in March. It planned to announce May 4th whether or not to return to classes or stay online for the year. At the time returning seemed like a viable option. As things played out it became clear that school was not going to return. Additionally flights out of the country started to cancel quickly. The U.S. embassy made a recommendation to take the last flight (that they were offering) and we did! Figuring we could teach online from Colorado we boarded a plane on the 6th of April.
It became a 48 hour marathon with an 8 hour delay in Okinawa, a beauty of a sunset in Alaska, a brief stop in SF, an amazing cup of coffee in LA, and then finally getting picked up by Wilder in Denver (she arrived 2 weeks prior from Newcastle). We offered to help drive home then promptly serenaded her with our loud mouth breathing all the way home.
Being all together was a relief but so much more wasn't right. I couldn't hug my mom and dad, I couldn't make connections with my students (zoom just doesn't cut it), and I couldn't share time with friends as I used to. (I know- boo hoo- at least I'm alive and working. I realize things could be worse and are for millions)
What I'm slowly getting to is that its different now, I don't like it, and I'm ready for my ability to start to see positives return.
and spoiler: it will.
Here I am waiting on plane #1
Here we are on the first plane to Okinawa. I had to take 2 photos as Lisa and Luca didn't smile in the first one
I'm usually pretty good at seeing the positives in situations... but this one is making it tough. Covid-19 is just sucking the joy out of things. I know this sounds trite to say in the face of something that is taking lives- so no sleight is meant here.
Our school decided (as many did) to go virtual in March. It planned to announce May 4th whether or not to return to classes or stay online for the year. At the time returning seemed like a viable option. As things played out it became clear that school was not going to return. Additionally flights out of the country started to cancel quickly. The U.S. embassy made a recommendation to take the last flight (that they were offering) and we did! Figuring we could teach online from Colorado we boarded a plane on the 6th of April.
It became a 48 hour marathon with an 8 hour delay in Okinawa, a beauty of a sunset in Alaska, a brief stop in SF, an amazing cup of coffee in LA, and then finally getting picked up by Wilder in Denver (she arrived 2 weeks prior from Newcastle). We offered to help drive home then promptly serenaded her with our loud mouth breathing all the way home.
Being all together was a relief but so much more wasn't right. I couldn't hug my mom and dad, I couldn't make connections with my students (zoom just doesn't cut it), and I couldn't share time with friends as I used to. (I know- boo hoo- at least I'm alive and working. I realize things could be worse and are for millions)
What I'm slowly getting to is that its different now, I don't like it, and I'm ready for my ability to start to see positives return.
and spoiler: it will.
Here I am waiting on plane #1
Here we are on the first plane to Okinawa. I had to take 2 photos as Lisa and Luca didn't smile in the first one
This is the company that flew us home. They do troop transport and secret type stuff... but they also have their own napkins.
I've never been to Alaska. Just seeing these peaks on the way in to refuel in Anchorage made me really really want to go.
The process of arriving was interesting. I wondered what stern warnings we would get about quarantining ourselves. Would we have to text our temps to the CDC each morning? Prove we were self-isolating via selfies? We had heard from friends in other countries these were options. The reality: The very nice customs lady looked at our passports, asked "how are you feeling?", stamped them and called out "next".
In any case I still was suspect that the last two signs were feet from each other- both from the same room! I'm not falling for that trick!
