The Year of Maybe - that's what my granddaughter Madeline is calling 2020. Daughter Jill told us about this the other night, and the phrase really resonated with me. "Maybe grandma can come visit us." "Maybe we can go to the park, if it's not too crowded."
Jill, who like Madeline is wise beyond her years, says that this shows the grit and resilience of youth. It's a phrase that even those of us who are no longer chronologically young but are maybe still a little bit young at heart, can adopt for ourselves.
We are going to get through this mess - maybe a little battered and suffering some losses, but we are going to get through this.
The circumstances behind Madeline's profound statement exemplify this. It was in response to us throwing our Christmas plans out the window. We had made plans to get together in a house in Cambria, a little town on the coast maybe 50 miles from here. All the adults had agreed to get COVID tested in advance. Christmas has always been a big deal for our family; most years all of us are together for at least part of the day.
California's recent lockdown requirements shot down those plans. It would have been very difficult, if not impossible, for the kids in Seattle to drive down here. Additionally, even if we could have gotten away with this, it's just not morally right to flout commonsense regulations designed to save lives.
So, we'll just get through it. Maybe next year we'll gather together. Maybe we'll sneak down to SoCal to see the kids there; it's just barely technically OK to do so. Right now, we are all in the same Southern California region; we're going to at least talk over gathering at Christmas with Sherry and Jill.
What keeps me going is that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. With vaccines on the horizon, and adopting the onerous, restrictive but necessary lockdown regulations, I know we'll get through this in a few more months.
What's going on with the new house? Not much. The building permit was submitted in late October. We are told that they are currently running 8-10 weeks on review, so we are hopeful to hear something this month. We have signed contracts with the well drilling company, a grading contractor and the general contractor who will do the foundation work and build the porch and the garage. Once the permit is approved, we expect everything to start happening.
In the interim, we're basically hanging out. Although I just counseled following the lockdown regulations, I must confess that Cathy and I and the dogs drove to Seattle for a week at Thanksgiving. We took a bunch of precautions, including COVID testing (negative!). We had a great visit, including babysitting with the adorable Parker for three days while mom Heather started a new job! Here's a shot of this little angel:
