It's official!
For now, at least. Our fifth time as a long-distance family has come to an end. Dennis is officially a full-time virtual employee working from our home in Colorado. Thanks, Covid!
Now the question is: Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Seriously, someone actually asked me if it’s a good thing that he’s back home.
I’m nowhere near a Type A personality, but more than once, I’ve said something along the lines of, “I’ve done it this way the entire time you were gone!” It’s difficult to adjust to suddenly being the only adult in the home, but it’s even harder re-adjusting to one of two again. Even though he’s been home for almost a full year! But aside from the occasional heart attack from him sneaking up on me, getting in my way in the kitchen or picking up after me (why am I annoyed instead of appreciative of that?), it has been an extremely good thing.
Adjusting to our new life
Since his trip home in March 2020, my husband has done the majority of the shopping, cooked more meals than I have, and makes me coffee every morning even on his days off. The boys are happy to have him home and he gets bonus time with our oldest, who will be off the college in the fall. We’ve made the most of our lock-down time with family hikes, movies, and meals. He indulges every new hobby that I come up with and asks for updates on all my regular Chinese students.
Aside from extra quarantine weight on both him and me (as teens, the boys are still immune to weight gain, no matter how sedentary they become), everyone has been healthy thus far. Staying home has kept us from getting our usual cold or any other viruses since last February, which has been nice.
When friends say they can’t wait for lock-down to end, I quietly think about how much we’ve enjoyed it. I realize that our kids are older and were already attending hybrid-model schools before the pandemic. Dennis has the luxury of being able to work from home. While I consider myself a stay-at-home-mom, my “side gigs” are done from a laptop or tablet. We don’t get bored easily and are happy to stay connected to friends and family online.
However, we do miss traveling. I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed traveling to watch Jack compete until it came to a sudden halt. To be honest, we have traveled more than we should have during the pandemic but were paranoid and vigilant about wearing masks, hand-washing and sanitizing, and limiting contact with people.
Our most recent trip was necessary: We got rid of the apartment! Dennis’s lease on his DC apartment ended in December, so we took advantage of Christmas break to make a long road trip out of it. We visited my sister and her family and both sets of parents. this provided much-needed breaks in the 1600-mile road trip and a chance to visit. Then, we left the boys and dog with my parents in Tennessee while we drove the rest of the way.
We take so many pictures to get the right one. It’s fun to see them in gifs!
An Unexpected Trip to West Virginia
We knew we’d need a small U-Haul for the trip, but weren’t sure our car had a trailer hitch. It’s only a few years old and we both could have sworn the price included a trailer hitch package, but didn’t see one. Dennis even got underneath the car to check but no luck.
He found one on eBay that only took a few days to arrive. The day before we left, he went into the garage to install it. When he removed the appropriate panel on the car, guess what he saw? The trailer hitch that we were both convinced our car already had! Oh well, I hope we can return the eBay one.
We researched U-Hauls and found the perfect size but, seeing what looked like an abundance available, didn’t reserve one in advance. That was, until we got there and called the local rental places. As it turned out, the closest trailer in the size we needed was 70 miles away in West Virginia. We had to spend one whole day that was ear-marked for packing up, driving to West Virginia. We actually considered this a blessing in disguise. The drive was beautiful, and the part of West Virginia we visited reminded us of our time in Kentucky. When Dennis told the U-Haul receptionist this, she told him she’d never left her home state. Seeing our Colorado plates, she mentioned how she’d always wanted to go there and we realized how fortunate we are to have seen as much of the country as we had. It’s funny how a fleeting comment can make you step back and appreciate what you’ve taken for granted.
Back at the apartment, we cleaned out the fridge, disassembled furniture, boxed everything up , cleaned, dropped off the keys and comically maneuvered the U-Haul out of the parking garage. We then headed west to start a new year and a new chapter.
This year, there are a few knowns and many unknowns. We know that Jack will graduate high school and will be off to college in the fall. The graduation ceremony is planned for in-person, but that can change with a sudden uptick of illnesses in the area. We don’t know if there will be any Taekwondo competitions this year. He still trains less frequently and mostly virtual.
Ben has been attending school 100% online. He has the option to return part-time (which is his school’s normal hybrid model) but isn’t ready. Sometimes he expresses the desire to attend in-person, but when the opportunities arise, he’d rather stay home. We hope to get the Covid vaccine this year, though we’ll be some of the last since we don’t check any of the boxes: We’re not in our 60s or 70s, no pre-existing conditions, we aren’t health care of front-line workers.
In the meantime, we’re enjoying the family time that the pandemic has forced upon us and are trying not to take a second of it for granted.
I’m so happy for you all! Enjoy your time together ❤️
Thank you! We are definitely enjoying it 🙂
What a fun read! Moving and traveling during Covid, so much fun. So glad you are all together, at least until Jack leaves for University. Well now that Dennis is home full time, we need to plan a girls get away as soon as Covid is clear or we can get our vaccines.
Next post “hobbies”?
What a fun read! Moving and traveling during Covid, so much fun. So glad you are all together, at least until Jack leaves for University. Well now that Dennis is home full time, we need to plan a girls get away as soon as Covid is clear or we can get our vaccines.
Next post “hobbies”?
Hobbies, it’s like you read my mind! LOL I look forward to some place tropical but a trip to the east coast with you would be great, too!
I was so glad to see the newest blog. You manage to do fun , family things even during a pandemic. I’ll bet many of you readers would be interested in your crafts and artistic pursuits. Your resin projects and your pour painting are things we all read about but haven’t attempted. What I am most interested in is all the recipes you have tried out using your KitchenAid mixer. Details please.
Love reading about your Family Travels and Fun.Enjoy looking at all the pictures.Good Times.❤