Right. So, in many ways Facebook killed the family blog, and I can’t pretend that this site is anything more than an annual check-in site for posterity. This year, I’m a little late (April instead of March) but there’s certainly happenings that warrant mentioning for the history books. We are in the middle of a pandemic. Covid-19 (aka the Corona virus) has all but halted the world. As of this writing, we — and those near and dear to us — are all healthy and sheltering in place to the best of their abilities. We are fortunate for a million reasons.
We have a large home with plenty of room (inside and out). Larry is still working. In fact, his new position within Akamai is VP of the engineering group that is helping lots of other people work from home. The kids are older and not only self sufficient but a genuine help around the house. Meredith’s school has done 3 weeks of online learning rather successfully, and is now on two weeks of Easter break. Elliot was on his way home for a weekend visit when he got news that his University was stopping all in person classes and exams for the rest of the year. He’s packed lighter than he would have, but he is with us. His Uni has since resumed classes online.
We have been on quarantine lockdown really since March 13th here in Munich. But again, we are lucky, we have access to grocery stores and pharmacies within walking distance. We stocked up early on most items (wish I had bought mask when I could have). We are allowed to be outdoors for exercise and health purposes (but cannot gather or loiter). The hospitals and health care industry here in Munich is still doing well and seems prepared for the situation. The State of Bavaria and the German government are taking things seriously and seem to be doing all the right things in informing the population and keeping the economy afloat.
We thought our last months here in Munich would be filled with travel. But we have canceled pretty much everything at this point (Poland, Spain, France, Turkey, Italy, Israel, Austria have all been chopped). We have not yet canceled a house-hunting trip at the end of May, but it seems increasingly unlikely. We are hoping we can safely move back at the beginning of July, but honestly, the jury is still out on if that is even possible.
How are we spending the time?
We talk regularly with our family and friends both here in Europe and back home. Video conferencing makes the world a lot smaller. I play games with my mom daily, and that eases my heart a bit. I miss my parents terribly, and I am worried so much for them. I am also so worried for friends and family in the healthcare industry. Some days the worry is huge; most days I am able to keep in a normal range. I say the Serenity prayer a lot. We try to get some kind of exercise in daily (some days are better than others). Larry’s working almost every waking hour. He will also pick up his instruments in between meetings. Elliot does school work and personal study, language acquisition, and workouts. He is also doing the bulk of the food shopping for the family. Meredith is doing a lot of baking. We are eating (and in the case of the adults: drinking) too much. But I don’t really see that changing in the near future. Meredith spends her time doing school work (when it’s in session) and talking with her friends. She is learning geography (this week the countries of Africa) and playing music and singing. She is watching Disney + and tackling lots of projects around the house (sanding and refinishing our beer garden table, sewing masks and clothes, rearranging her room). I’m still doing all that I normally do: laundry, cooking, cleaning, keeping the family on track and in some semblance of normalcy in this strange and abnormal time. I’m playing with my mom. I’m slowly learning Spanish with my daily Duolingo. I read when I can sit still (which isn’t often). I occasionally take out my real camera (so out of practice). I’m also working on a photo book from my 50th birthday trip to Costa Rica. The biggest change in my daily life is that I have started doing puzzles. I have one going every week on the dining room table. It serves many purposes. It keeps my face out of a screen, it quiets my mind, it makes me accessible and visible to the family. They are welcome to sit and talk with me or help with the puzzle, or just fidget with the pieces. It definitely helps exude a sense of calm, and normalcy, and of being present. I am not spending much time at all outside because it is allergy season and I almost always get very sick with respiratory illnesses every springtime. I am trying hard to avoid that situation. But I really, really REALLY want to be out on my balcony, gardening, and tending to my trees and plants. I do still pop out to feed my crows. They are nest building now, so I don’t see them as regularly as over the winter, but they still pop in for peanuts.
Instead of travel and exploration, I’m afraid our Christmas book this year will be nothing but screen shots of video calls with friends and family, pictures of the four of us in the same comfortable clothes (stretchy in material and colored in the bruised palette), and pictures of my crows eating their peanuts. And food. Many pictures of delicious, comforting food.
View From Our Summit 
Very useful post. Will be sharing this with some friends.
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