Last Thursday, we took off for camping with Jeremy’s family at Schafer State Park. Camping is always an adventure. I’m amazed at how much we pack to have as many comforts of home as possible. I’m not a tent camper at heart (I dream of owning a trailer), but I know my family enjoys it. I tagalong and do my best. The bathrooms at this campground were nice and cleaned often, so that made a world of difference. The boys loved fishing on the Satsop River and Graham was my hiking buddy. It felt so good to finally hit some trails this summer. I was able to read a book and chat with family. It was a great trip until Owen started to feel sick on Friday afternoon. When it became apparent we had a sick kiddo, we packed up camp in a hurry. Poor Owen had a flu bug that lasted through Sunday which happened to overlap with our next family drama.
It took over two years, but COVID finally came to visit our family. Jeremy tested positive on Saturday and went into isolation since the boys and I tested negative. I moved into our playroom on an air mattress and held down the fort while Jeremy recovered. This meant we had to cancel our plans to celebrate the 4th of July at the beach with friends. We also had to cancel hosting a birthday dinner for my father on the 5th. Living through a pandemic has a taught our family flexibility with canceled plans. We are stay-at-home professionals. We were disappointed to cancel such fun plans, but we also knew we could handle the unexpected time at home.
My parents were sweet and bought fireworks for us. We had planned to watch the fireworks on the beach, so we didn’t have any at home. The boys loved the small display and seemed to enjoy the holiday even though it wasn’t the big celebration we had originally envisioned. Tuesday was my dad’s birthday. Owen requested we make a cake and enjoy it in his honor. My parents also delivered pizza. It was like we had a birthday dinner celebration – just in separate houses.
Yesterday morning, I also tested positive for COVID. Even though Jeremy isolated right away after testing positive, I had been in very close contact with him during his contagious period before showing symptoms. I’m not thrilled about starting the isolation timer over again, but it has worked out for the best. I felt crummy yesterday, but Jeremy was starting to feel better. He was able to assist the kids (while trying to maintain a distance). The boys are still negative, so we’ll see if they can get away from this virus or if our family will draw this out.
Thankfully, I woke up today feeling much better. I don’t want to jinx anything, but I feel almost 100%. My plan is to rest today because I don’t want to go backwards. This summer certainly hasn’t turned out the way we expected. We had trips, activities, and outings that I thought we would happily checking off our summer bucket list. Jeremy has some time off in August, so we have hope for summer adventures still to come. September and October are fairly nice in the PNW. The summer bucket list might have to transition to a fall bucket list. We can do our best to make plans, but life happens! We take the disappointments in stride and look ahead with hope.
Amy Scott's Thoughts 