We have now been in quarantine for four weeks. Ruth and Jared are both doing online school, Chuck and Ruth are also working from home. I am the only one leaving on the regular to go to work because I work for a medical manufacturer. It is a strange time.
We waited until the last moment to cancel our Bride and Baby BBQ Openhouse. We had hoped there would be a way to still have it before we all went into social distancing, but alas, a couple days before the date the county mayor put the county on restrictions. Kate and Ben still came over and we held a "virtual" party. It was still a good time and great to be together.
Shortly before the quarantine, Jared was able to perform at Regional Solo and Ensemble. He did a great job and got the top score that would have allowed him to compete at State - if it hadn't been canceled. This was his first solo with double mallets. He worked so hard and we are so proud of him.
Baby Claire is making her appearance in less than 3 weeks! I am sad that I'm not able to hang out with Kate during this difficult final month of pregnancy, but I'm glad that she is doing well and is going to have her baby at a nice birth center far away from Covid 19 at the hospitals.
Overall our little family unit has faired pretty well in the chaos of the pandemic. We chose not to participate in the panic stock-up shopping that happened the first couple of weeks of the pandemic. It was (and still is) eerie to walk up and down empty grocery store aisles. I did grab an extra 2 small packages of TP that first week, and I'm glad I did because I have not seen TP in the stores since. For the most part, we've had everything that we needed, and anything we didn't have we were able to workaround. Just this last week the CDC has started recommending we wear masks, so I've been sewing those the last few days. It feels surreal.
I mentioned at the top that I was still working. It's been interesting watching my small business deal with the stresses of Covid. My hours have been cut and they've taken away some of our benefits. I've watched my boss struggle between wanting to keep our company afloat but still trying to meet the needs of the employees. Chuck has been working from home but his pay has also been cut. We are just glad to still have jobs however, as many are losing theirs.
Wedding Plans: https://thegreenswedding.weebly.com/
We are still in active discussion about what to do with Ruth and Quaid's wedding. Their original wedding date was May 18th, but it looks like we will all still be in quarantine at that time. At this point, we are mostly sure that there will be no reception. If there is no reception then we will not need our wedding venue, and if we don't need the wedding venue there is no need to have the wedding on a Monday Night (the only time we could get at the venue). Ruth and Quaid are now tlaking about having a small ceremony sometime that weekend, maybe outside somewhere were a few people can attend and social distance, and then, maybe in August have a post-wedding openhouse. All wedding decisions and updates will be posted at Ruth's wedding website.
