I have not been myself lately- it's been too much grumbling and complaining and not enough happy documenting. It's hard to keep the blog light and happy when inside of me there is (at times) a restless angry woman, at other times a peaceful happy traveler. I am complex
2020 has been a difficult road for people around the world. It's weird how we are all in this together.
As for my family, we are attempting to complete 6th grade, 12th grade at home. Attempting to graduate High School remotely. Attempting to enroll in a college and be able to pay for it. Attempting to carry on working while unable to be at work physically.
They are weird times...difficult and confusing times...Some of it has been great. I love being with my kids and having more quality time then any person could dream of ever having. My husband has been able to tackle home projects that we never would have found time for. In the past month we have acquired a ride-on lawn mower, a trailer for said mower (which we affectionately call the tractor), a gas grill to cook on and so much more.
The children and I spend much of our days indoors, under the requirements of completing schools and work. I don't spend enough time outside honestly...I hope to change that one day in the future. Part of the reason we came to buy this house was to have some type of outdoor living.
For the last 5 years, my home was a third floor walk-up with a tiny patio. Here was the best use I was able to make of my outdoor terrace:
I loved that window display of strung lights, dream catcher and a curtain. My cats had other ideas about it but it was great while it lasted. We grew a small amount of herbs such as basil, oregano and mint. We also grew some pots of tomato plants. I liked my apartment. In fact...the photo above that shows a pond with autumn trees- that was right outside of my apartment. We enjoyed watching the wildlife at that pond. We have some unique idea about how to decorate here at the new place. It will take years to create it all...and money of course. We have only been here 5 months.
PLANS
Ah we have some plans. Let's talk about those shall we??
Annika plans to leave us and go to college. She isn't leaving permanently...just planning to live on campus and come back when on break. It may be several years before Annika permanently moves out. Right now we are trying to determine how possible it would be to help her to go to UHART in West Hartford CT. They have a very good program for what she wants to study. URI has a good program for it too...but URI put her on a waitlist! RIC has accepted her but aside from general education credits, has little to offer her from a program standpoint. Her school, West Warwick High School has been little to no help with college planning. Annika has been deeply upset about the disruptions to her last semester of high school and her Senior Year. NO prom or graduation. NO more musical performances. One of her favorite teachers delivered a special surprise that completely brightened our day yesterday.
Mr. Tramontana (Tram), delivered a sign for us. Annika was the last one to receive her sign...Tram took great efforts to track down our new address since we just bought a house in November and the school was not informed (oops, my bad). Anyway...the pictures tell the story.
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| ANNIKA ANSWERED THE DOOR RATHER SLEEPILY...to A SURPRISE VISITOR! |
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| TRAM! HE FOUND HER AND WAS DETERMINED TO SPREAD A MESSAGE OF LOVE! |
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| KEEPING SOCIAL DISTANCE, TRAM PLANTED THIS PROUD SENIOR'S WEST WARWICK PRIDE! |
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SOCIALLY DISTANT WORDS OF SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT FROM TEACHER TO STUDENT.
In the words of my own Senior Prom theme song:
These are the times to remember
for they will not last forever
These are the times to hold onto
cause we won't although we'll want to
Profound choice of song from 1992. At the time I thought it was kind of lame but now...well I cannot help but see how true it is. It's weird...2020 marks 28 years since I graduated High School. 28 represents the age I was when I gave birth to Annika. An observation I am making right now that I never made before...
We shall see what the next few months bring for her. For all of us.
namaste
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