Drama Queen

Things we have lost or have been closed/canceled in the last 2.5 weeks: Our Broadway play get-away, my job, Ethan's job, Libby's job, the YMCA, city playgrounds, the dog parks, school, choir concerts, student council elections, Ethan's lifeguard training, gymnastics, hanging out with friends for all children, seminary, tennis, National Junior Honor Society banquet, choir tour, church, church activities, job interviews, Everyday Leadership, track, tech Tuesday, the library...

Libby made a commemorative cake.

Things we still have: Michael's job(!), our health, our family, our home, lots of food (no hoarding!), toilet paper, a Wii stuck on the Wii Fit game (it suffered a fall several days into this new adventure), Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, internet, phone calls with friends, and lots of other stuff I'm too lazy to list.

It's been a weird few weeks. Most things are canceled and closed and we are supposed to stay at home. The upside is we've managed a lot of little home repairs that are constantly ignored, the kids haven't murdered each other, and we are getting lots and lots and lots and lots of family time. It's also nice to not be running all over town like a crazed chicken, which is the natural state of things.

So life is weird and then it got weirder. Last night as I was making dinner the whole house started shaking. At first I thought the washing machine was off-balance, but the shaking got bigger and lasted longer. It took us all a hot second to realize it was an earthquake. Libby started crying and asking, "What do I do, what do I do?" Ethan placed himself in front of the huge bookcase to catch it in case it fell. Sam was just wandering around. Grace stayed in her bed watching a show with headphones, almost oblivious. Michael went outside. I gathered the children away from things that might fall (giant bookcase) and herded them toward an interior wall. By the time I got them all there the shaking was over.  We shouted to the equally bemused neighbors and decided it was in fact an actual earthquake, in Idaho, during a pandemic. I might just crawl into bed until 2021. This year is too dramatic for me. I feel like 2020 is that girl in college who says, "I just want a relationship with no drama!" and then sets about creating drama in all her relationships. That is 2020. This year is a drama queen. There is no reasoning with her. We just have to wait it out and then never speak of it again. This is the year-that-must-not-be-named.