April – a month towards normalcy

Looking forward, the next month promises to hit some key milestones as things start to change back to a closer-to-normal schedule for us. Between school reopenings, soccer seasons, vaccinations, and more, it’s shaping up to be a month of transition.

• April 4th – My first soccer game in over a year
  • I decided I was ready to play again this season
  • We’ll still have to wear masks but otherwise it’ll be soccer as usual
    
• April 5th – Caroline back to full-time in-person school
  • The state mandated that all elementary schools go back full-time
  • It’ll be strange making her a lunch in the morning and not seeing her until the end of the day
  • She is really excited about the change!
    
• April 10th – soccer season starts for the girls
  • This will be my final season coaching Hannah’s team (high school next year!?!)
    
• April 18th – I get my 2nd vaccine dose
  • Through my volunteering at a food pantry, I was eligible a few weeks earlier than expected
  • I received my first dose last weekend and didn’t have any side effects
  • I felt relief at making it this far. And with only a month until I’m fully vaccinated, the personal end of the pandemic is very much in sight!
    
• April 19th – All adults in Massachusetts become vaccine eligible
  • It’ll take a couple months to get to everyone, but it’s a huge step
    
• April 19th-23rd – Vacation week
  • The girls are off school so Jeanne and I are taking the week off from work too
  • We are planning some day trips, nothing major but it’s exciting to be able to travel a little
  • I really need the break from work and am looking forward to some downtime
    
• April 26th – Hannah back to school in-person full-time
  • The middle schools are going back full-time for the final two months of school
  • It’ll probably be a little bit of a mess (changing classes in a larger school is more challenging logistically than elementary schools) but it’ll be good to get them in the building full time
  • The house will be really quiet without the girls around during the day, it’ll take some getting used to for Jeanne and me (and Daisy)

Hopefully all will go smoothly enough and a month from now we’ll be looking towards an almost normal summer!

A Zoom seder worked surprisingly well and may become an annual tradition for a geographically distributed family

It’s amazing how much this little piece of paper means

Things that went well this week:

• I got my first vaccine dose!
• We had a really nice Passover seder over Zoom with family across the country
• Positive news about summer camps, the town pool, and my office all being open this summer

Things that did not go well:

• Daisy’s recovery is not going well and she is going back for a second surgery to put a pin in her elbow
• The Covid cases in Massachusetts are not going down and are staying at ~1500 per day
• The level of public displays of racism is increasing nationally – there is so much hate and bigotry in the world

Random happy find from the web:

• Students in Burlington, Vermont are going to school in a converted Macy’s. When they went to open the high school they discovered PCB chemicals in the school and had to pivot to a new plan. An abandoned department store has worked surprisingly well, and it’s so impressive to see people come up with creative solutions to make this school year work.

Cute puppy photo of the day:

Hard to imagine Daisy could look any more ridiculous than she does here sitting on the couch showing off her surgically shaved torso