Exiled for the Good of the Realm Days 812-819, First Grade in the Time of COVID-19 Days 169-173

I realized after the sun came up that I should have stepped outside to look at the sky this morning. Perhaps I’ll remember tomorrow.

This week has been filled with yard work and work-work and the last week of school. Anna is now “o-fish-ially” a second grader, at least according to the crown she wore home from school on Friday. My mom and I are trying to wrap our heads around summer vacation and it’s required schlepping to and from summer camps and shared childcare when camp isn’t happening. And there will be a trip to my brother’s in Virginia.

I have gotten myself into super podcast trouble. Have you heard of History Hit? They have a series called “The Ancients.” I’m now binging my way through two years of episodes and enjoying every minute of it. It is not helping me with my 1000-deep backlog of episodes from all the other shows I listen to. The most delightful episode I’ve heard so far is about linothorax, an ancient form of armor made from laminated linen. The researcher being interviewed talks about doing experimental archaeology to determine exactly how it was made. One of his first challenges was the linen itself. Buying from a fabric store means the linen was made using modern techniques. But there’s this researcher in Wisconsin, where he lives. She’s actually a medievalist. And this is why I love this episode. I know exactly who he’s talking about. Not personally. But I went to a presentation she did at the Medieval Congress about her project on growing flax and creating linen using medieval methods. I love when my ancient and medieval history worlds collide!

My job is still great. I love my new work schedule. The podcast, however, is turning into a bit of a slog. I enjoy it when I work on it, but I’m also having trouble getting to it. So I decided that a summer vacation is called for. And maybe a cohost when it comes back in the fall. Or a guest who I can talk to who can comment on what I’m sharing. I feel like it needs a refresh of some sort. If you have ideas or want to join me, let me know.

My birthday was lovely. Strawberry shortcake, unexpected presents. What’s not to love?

I hope you’ve all had a good week. And I hope that the start of your summer vacation, if that’s where you are in your school calendar and/or hemisphere, is good and full of all the things that summer should bring. And if you’re not sure what that should mean, well, I’ll just leave this here, because, summer… man, where do we begin?

Exiled for the Good of the Realm Days 771-811, First Grade in the Time of COVID-19 Days 140-168

I woke up around 5 this morning. And wrapped in my bathrobe with warm slippers on my feet, I walked onto the deck to look up at the sky. I wasn’t sure if it would be cloudy. Or if my view to the east would be too obstructed by trees and houses. But there they were. A line of glimmering spots in the sky. I didn’t count, so I’m not sure I really did see Mercury, there near the horizon. But I definitely saw the rest. And I looked away and looked back just to make sure I wasn’t imagining it. And despite all of the stress and the horrible things that have happened in the world in the past few weeks, in that moment, all was still. And peaceful. And quiet. And since the alignment should be visible through most of the month, I suspect I’ll be stepping out onto my deck or my parents’ or my brother’s multiple mornings to see that line of planets again.

So how is it going… My old job is apparently imploding. Thank god I’m out. My new job? It is so good. It is so right. I’m going to dance classes. In person. And they’re cool with me flexing my time around it. And I’m doing work I enjoy. And it’s only been three weeks, but I half-feel like I know what I’m doing. I think I’ve met just about everyone I’ll be working with. And they’re all so caring. And it’s all still a little scary, but the company is maintaining the start-up mentality that nothing is truly a failure. It’s a thing we tried that didn’t work, so we’ll just try something else.

Anna is preparing for the last week of school. Summer will be an assortment of camps, dance classes, a visit to my brother’s house, and just figuring it out. It’s hard to believe that it’s June.

I hope you’re all well. Take a moment to look up and breathe. (But don’t look directly into the sun. 😉)

P.S. For, like, a year now, I’ve seen this woman walking her dog past my house and have thought, “She looks just like Nia (one of my MPH classmates). But that’s crazy. Nia doesn’t live in my neighborhood. It’s just someone who looks kind of like her.” Well, about a week ago, I was walking from my house to my parents’ house, and this woman was out walking her dog, and they’d paused at the corner. She looked at me. And I looked at her. And Nia said, “No. Way.” Yes, Nia has lived up the street from me for a year, and we’ve only just realized this. 🤦🏻‍♀️

P.P.S. Anna would like to add: “Tomorrow is Mom’s birthday. Yay…” (She didn’t sound that excited… 🤷🏻‍♀️)

Exiled for the Good of the Realm Days 735-770, First Grade in the Time of COVID-19 Days 121-139

Okay, I know I said that I’d try not to go quite so long between posts, but this time there was a reason. I was going to write about Spring Break, but then… well…

Some things happened during Spring Break. Some very exciting things. But I was waiting until I knew the outcome. And then I needed to wait for a little bit of fallout before I could share it here.

I got a new job! On May 16, I’ll be starting a new job at a new company and it’s super exciting and I’ve been wanting to tell you but my boss wanted to announce my departure herself so I was waiting for her to finally send that email and now she has so now it’s official.

This was a bit of a whirlwind. I stumbled across the job posting the Sunday before Spring Break. The job is right up my alley with a company that I’m really excited to start working for, so I submitted my CV because I might as well try for it, right? On Monday, I heard back. On Tuesday, I interviewed with the recruiter. On Thursday, I interviewed with the woman who will be my supervisor. The following Tuesday, I interviewed with another woman I’ll be working closely with. Then I had to wait until Monday for news because my supervisor was on vacation. Last week Thursday I interviewed with the Chief Medical Officer. I talked about being an extreme lark and wanting to be able to work early in the day and get off relatively early in the afternoon and how I want to flex my schedule around my dance classes. She didn’t bat an eye. Thursday afternoon, the recruiter emailed that she’d have news on Friday and that I was a “very strong candidate”. That just about killed me because it sounded like a downgrade of every other comment she’d shared in the process.

And then on Friday, I kept checking my email on my iPad while I was between meetings. And fortunately, my 11am meeting ended early, so I saw a message from the recruiter asking if I had time to talk because she had good news. She was available at noon or at 3. I’m so glad that meeting ended early because I had another meeting at 3, but I saw her message in time for that noon appointment. And she made me the offer, and I accepted, and I signed the paperwork on Saturday and submitted my resignation on Monday.

I have three more weeks at AAAP, and then I’ll be the CME Specialist at Talkiatry. I’ll have more flexibility, which will be great. And I’ll be building a brand new CME program from the ground up, which is an amazing opportunity.

And this is why I haven’t written in so long.

In other news, we had a wonderful Spring Break. We spent the night at a mediocre hotel that met Anna’s needs: It has an indoor pool. We went swimming in the afternoon after we checked in. We went swimming in the morning before we checked out. Then we went to Oma and Opa’s house to play with their puppy. On Friday we got our teeth cleaned and went to Meijer Gardens to see the butterflies. We’d hoped to go through all of the gardens outdoors, but the weather was lousy, so we had lunch and came home.

The other excitement is that an orange tabby named Pumpkin is coming to live in our backyard. She’s an outdoor cat who needs a new home. Today Anna and I will go and pick up some supplies. And next Sunday, we’ll go and pick her up.

Tye Chua celebrated its fifth anniversary yesterday. Anna had rehearsal for Carnival of the Animals, and then we had a pizza party. They’ve been able to secure a second room to use as studio space. They’ve laid the floors and repainted, but before hanging the mirrors, they’re letting everyone sign the walls as a time capsule. It was a wonderful afternoon. And a thing happened that should not mean as much to me at the age of 43. My old ballet teacher was there. (After all, she’s the reason Aimee and I know each other and, therefore, the reason that I’m dancing at this particular school.) And as I was leaving, Terry grabbed my hand and said, “I always loved teaching you.” And that… I don’t know if I can even describe how that feels. Most of us who trained with her have this love/hate relationship. She was a huge part of my childhood. And she was old-school. You know the stereotypical Russian ballet teacher? That was Terry, only with a London accent. Criticism was near-constant, and praise was few and far between. It’s been more than 30 years since I took a class from her, and this validation? Volumes. I feel silly letting that comment be so uplifting after all these years, but it is. And will I find a time to stop by her house to look at the photos for the memoir she’s writing? Absolutely. I loved my time dancing with her, even when I hated it.

So that’s what all has happened since I last wrote.

I asked Anna if she has anything to add. She wants you to know that she has eight Barbies, one cute puppy, three hens, four chicks (thanks for all of those, Karyl!), and a Siberian white tiger. Also, the Barbies can do the splits.

I hope you’re well and that if your life has been eventful, it’s been the good kind. I really will try not to go so long between posts again. I promise.

Exiled for the Good of the Realm Days 701-734, First Grade in the Time of COVID-19 Days 98-120

I swear I didn’t realize I’d skipped quite this many weeks between blog posts. I suppose it goes to show that we’ve either been very busy on the weekends or that things have been so uneventful as to leave me with the sense that I have nothing to say.

I work. Anna goes to school. We take our respective dance classes. We do chores. We play with Lego. We read books. We sleep. We start over. We’re both looking forward to spring break. I’ve taken the entire break off. Our plans are minimal, so it will hopefully mean we both will feel somewhat restored by the time it’s done.

Today was a birthday party. Anna got to see a few of her friends, and I got to see a few of mine. It was nice to get to catch up on the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Last week, Anna and I walked out of dance class to find snow. This week, we didn’t even need coats. Today, it’s a much more seasonable rainy 40 degrees. Hopefully we’re done shoveling for the season.

So there isn’t much to report. The beat goes on. We’re still being cautious. Mask mandates have been lifted, but we still wear masks most places we go. It will be odd to give them up entirely. The CDC may have changed how they’re assessing risk level to by hospitalizations instead of by cases, but I’m keeping an eye on the old method before changing the habits established over the past two years.

I hope that you’re still being cautious, too. And that your life has been uneventful the past month, too. And hopefully I’ll not go quite so long between posts.

Exiled for the Good of the Realm Days 693-700, First Grade in the Time of COVID-19 Days 93-97

School celebrated “100 Days” this week. Snow days must count for them. I’m not counting snow days as I’m keeping track of the number of days of school. If school isn’t in session, then there is no school-related COVID-19 risk, so that must explain why I show they won’t hit 100 days until this coming week.

Anyway, they asked everyone to dress up like someone who is 100 years old. My first thought was a track suit because that’s what I picture old women wearing (not to be confused with the school’s suggestions of floral prints, skirts, and cardigans). But then I thought of my nonagenarian neighbor. My mom did, too, and also suggested Anna could dress like Walt. But I am not a history major for nothing and started thinking about how much cooler it would be to ask people to dress like they were from 100 years ago. And, frankly, it was a pretty easy sell once I pulled up some pictures of 1920s fashion. It was also irresistible given that my great-grandmother was really and truly an actual flapper. And Costco had spring dresses on sale, one of which was a great stand-in for a period dress (and which also means Anna has a dress for Easter hanging in her closet). I sent a note to her teacher that Anna was dressed like someone who is 100 today might have dressed when they were in the first grade.

There was significantly less shoveling this week, which is good because we really needed to have dance classes. The Choreography Showcase is next Saturday, and Anna’s class finally had a chance to learn their piece on Thursday. This means they will have had three rehearsals before they perform. It is a charming piece, and Anna is very excited. I quote:

“I will be dancing with my friends on Saturday, so you can come and see me do it at Tye Chua Dance.”

Anna Banner, age almost 7

Performances is are at 2:30 and 4:30. Admission is a most reasonable $5 (cash only). Originally, I was going to be in a modern piece, but between being in Denver one week and unable to bend over due to my post-flight vertigo for another week, there simply wasn’t time to add me to it. If you’re interested, you should have no trouble finding a seat at what you find to be a comfortable distance from strangers these days.

The rest of this week will be taken up with Valentine’s Day, the usual work and school, and probably more shoveling. I cleared my driveway once today. It looks like it will need it again tomorrow…

Hope you’re well and staying safe. If you’re in Kalamazoo County, you can order testing kits from the health department.

I ordered mine on Thursday, and they arrived today, much faster than the 1-2 weeks my confirmation said. Hopefully we won’t need them, but better to be prepared!

Stay safe. Wear your masks. Enjoy the snow. I love you all.

Exiled for the Good of the Realm Days 687-692, First Grade in the Time of COVID-19 Days 90-92

I had a snow day on Monday. Or rather Rhode Island had a snow day on Monday. It was a lovely day to have a snow day here in Michigan. I ran some errands, including stopping to buy a birthday present for someone who will be seven in just a few weeks. I knit. I watched Around the World in 80 Days on PBS. Is it the most masterful of Masterpiece? Meh. But I do love David Tennant, so I’m enjoying it.

And then, sometime in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, the snow started here. Schools had pretty much all announced closures late Tuesday, so the snow day wasn’t exactly a surprise. I shoveled and then went to work for a few hours. And then my mom came and picked us up. We had lunch and then shoveled some more. Since it was looking increasingly like another snow day on Thursday, my mom and I drove back to my house, shoveled again, and packed up to spend the night at my parents’ house to simplify the Thursday shoveling. Turned out to be the right choice. I worked the full day while Anna played in the snow and put together gift bags to take to school on her birthday and started making Valentines for her classmates. My parents cleared snow.

Friday was back to normal, such as it is these days. The snow waited until the evening, so we didn’t need to shovel again until this morning. My mom’s comment is that anyone who suggests we didn’t get much snow this winter clearly doesn’t shovel.

So that was my week. Snow days for me. Snow days for Anna. And some work and school in between.

I hope you were able to stay warm and dry this week. That your power is still (or back) on. And that you’re as safe as you can be. We’ll see how eventful this coming week is. I haven’t looked at the extended forecast yet…

Exiled for the Good of the Realm Days 680-686, First Grade in the Time of COVID-19 Days 86-89

Our usual morning routine these days consists of me getting up and doing a little freelance work while I listen to my morning news podcasts (NPR’s Up First, the BBC World Service, This Day in History Class, The Daily Show Ears Edition, sometimes the previous evening’s NPR Politics and Consider This, and several other random things that drop weekly as opposed to daily — my name is Beth, and I have a problem with podcasts). At some point, Anna wakes up and has a little bit to eat before crawling into my bed and asking when it’s her turn to use the iPad. And asking and asking and asking until around 7 when I turn off whatever podcast I’m in the middle of and let her use it and turn on WMUK on my phone.

Monday followed that usual routine. Except when I picked up my phone to turn on WMUK, I saw the 6:35am text message announcing that school would be closed due to staff illness/shortage. Surprise! I texted my boss that I’d be “in” late and “out” early to simplify things due to the closure. I didn’t want to miss our team meeting this week. We meet each Monday. There are only three of us, so if one person isn’t available, we usually just cancel. Last week was a holiday, so the office was closed. And, while we did meet the week before, in the meanwhile, one of us got a promotion. Not me. I can’t get any higher than director without becoming CEO, and I don’t want that job. But now two of us have the title of director. And we hadn’t had a chance to talk about what this means and doesn’t mean about us as a team. And I didn’t want that to wait another week. So I scheduled my four hours to include our team meeting.

And then Anna and I went to the library. This is slowing down my re-read of the The Aeneid for the podcast. And the library now has this, too, so it’s only a matter of time before it’s my turn to check it out. It’s a good thing I’ve managed to get several episodes into the queue!

Other than that, my work week can be summed up by this meme:

Also applies to committee work… (for the record, Anna saw this and declared it “adorable” 🤷🏻‍♀️)

Dance, on the other hand, continues to give me life. Because my vertigo knocked me out last week, there isn’t time to fit me into the modern piece for the choreography showcase next month, so I guess it will be another while before get to perform again. But I’m still learning one of the parts, and it feels glorious. And despite however many classes I’ve had with him, Thursday was the day Gene actually looked at my foot mid-tendu and was impressed by the shape. My insteps do nicely accentuate my point. His question was what sort of pointe shoes I wore back in the day to provide enough support for my arches and insteps. Now, of course, I’m curious what sort of pointe shoe would be right for me these days. I doubt I’ll ever go back (although when I watch the teenagers I dance with doing their pointe work I do miss it), but I kind of want to be fitted just to try out the current styles.

But that was my week. Today my mom and I will change the sheets. We’re planning to pick up take-away for lunch. Not sure where yet. Maybe Bell’s so that we can pick up some Expedition Stout while we’re there.

Hopefully this week will be normal. Or at least normal-adjacent. Whatever that means. To circle back to the school closure on Monday, the district moved the high school to fully virtual for the rest of the week, two days of fully virtual for the middle school, and kept the elementary schools in person. We’ll see if that afforded enough of a reprieve. Of course, who knows what the predicted snow later this week will mean.

Please keep taking precautions. Masks. Caution in crowded places. You should know the routine by now. I love you all, and I hope you have a good week!

Exiled for the Good of the Realm Days 666-679, First Grade in the Time of COVID-19 Days 77-85

Last Saturday, I contemplated writing a blog post before I packed to fly home from Denver, but I decided to wait until I was safely home. And then, well…

The last time I flew was two years ago when I went to the Alliance Annual Meeting in San Francisco. It’s been long enough that I forgot that I am one of those who suffer from what is elegantly termed mal de disembarquement syndrome. Except mine doesn’t quite reach the stage of clinical diagnosis. (It has to last for a month to be deemed clinical.) Yes, I get off the boat (or rather plane), but my balance doesn’t believe me. It’s a weird sort of vertigo, feeling like I’m on a boat when I know full well that I’m not. And I’d forgotten that it lasted about a week after I got back from San Francisco.

Last week I was off to Denver for the Alliance Annual Meeting. Presenters were expected to attend in person although it turned out that several were unable to attend for any number of reasons. One of my co-presenters was called into clinic duty because her hospital was so short-staffed, so she had to bow out. But I have to say that I felt fairly safe at the conference. Rooms were set with social distancing in mind. Masks and vaccinations were required. I went from my hotel room to the conference. I took my plate from the buffet back to my room to eat lunch. I stopped at one of the hotel restaurants long enough to pick up take-away, so my contact with people who weren’t also attending the conference was minimal. At the airports on either end, I saw more KN95 masks (properly worn!) than I think I’ve ever seen out-and-about (although that’s changing here, too). For my first time traveling in two years, I felt as safe as I think I could in these times.

Except, of course, for the vertigo. I made it through my Tuesday ballet class because there were only about five minutes left by the time we’d finished barre. I had to skip my Wednesday modern class, though, because there was no way I could stand in the center of the room and dance. And my Thursday advanced ballet class went remarkably well, although I also didn’t stay after barre for that class. By Saturday morning, the vertigo was mostly gone. I still feel a little bit of a boat when I get tired in the evening, but I’m fairly certain I can handle a full dance class again.

My being gone was harder for Anna than it was for me. Normally we snuggle in my bed and read bedtime stories. Lately she stays in my bed until she falls asleep. I attribute that regression to the trauma of the past two years. So this change of routine was hard for her. Fortunately, the time change allowed me to still read to her over FaceTime. There was one night she accidentally hung up on me, and when I was able to get her back on, she was in tears because I’d disappeared. But she, too, survived and is mostly back to normal.

Today we celebrated my dad’s birthday. It’s not actually his birthday, but it was the first day we could fit a celebration in. We made brunch and had an ice cream cake. Anna picked out all of his cards and decided who was going to give him which one, so that was… interesting.

And now it’s back to the routine. Five days of school for her and five days of work for me. Unless there’s a snow day. It is Michigan. You never know.

Stay safe. Wear your masks. Hug those you love. And I hope you have an uneventful week.

Exiled for the Good of the Realm Days 658-665, First Grade in the Time of COVID-19 Days 73-76

I woke up in the middle of the night and wondered where the weekend had gone. Then I realized that it was only Sunday. So… yeah…

Last week, the Alliance emailed us to say that the annual meeting is going ahead in person as planned. Vaccinations are required, and they’ll have KN-95 masks available. This has led to a bit of a problem for me. What do people wear to look professional? I haven’t dressed for work in three years. This isn’t a pandemic problem. This is a freelance, remote work problem. I’m sure that I have professional looking clothes. I haven’t exactly thinned my wardrobe since I left WMed. At the same time, I haven’t really worn any of those clothes since then either. The thought of packing is hurting my brain more than usual. I have set up a packing list project in my Todoist*. Now I just need to figure out the details of exactly which shirts and pants and shoes I need to pack. Shoes! People wear shoes and not slippers when they need to look professional. What shoes am I going to need?

So that’s what my brain has been up to.

In other news, we did get a white Christmas after all. It just fell on Orthodox Christmas. Yes, first snow day of the year! It turned out to be on the wrong day. The snow day was called for Thursday. And there was shoveling required in the morning. But once the sun came out, the dusting left on the driveway melted, and that was it for the snow. Until sometime in the middle of the night, that is. I shoveled. Drove Anna and the laundry and my computers to my parents’ house. Unloaded. Drove home. Shoveled again. And then walked back to my parents’ house. The snow was falling at about one inch every hour until around lunchtime. Friday was the day that we really needed off to dig out.

Yesterday, my mom drove me home so that we could shovel my driveway together, and there wasn’t enough snow. Okay, there was enough snow that it needed to be shoveled. And it was nice to have a partner to make it go a lot faster. But someone has to have shoveled my driveway on Friday after I walked to my parents’ house. And I have no idea who it is. There were no marks of a snowblower, which rules out my neighbors to the north and my nonagenarian neighbor across the street. We suspect maybe the neighbors for whom Anna and I occasionally cat-sit. Their driveway appears to have been cleared at least once on Friday, so maybe they came over and shoveled mine while they were out. Whoever it is, my mom and I are extremely grateful! We were dreading the task, and it was a wonderful surprise to have it already, effectively, half done.

Today we’ll see if we’ve gotten the promised freezing rain. Because that’s exactly what you want to fall after eight inches of snow. And perhaps a run to Costco. And the usual prep for the coming work week.

I hope you’re all still safe. Remember to breathe. Wear your masks. Up your mask game. We have. Yes, it’s an adjustment. But it’s necessary. I love you all. Have a good week!

*I swear I get no money from Todoist to say this. If you are looking for an app to keep track of all of your projects and tasks lists, this is what I recommend. I’m not sure if it’s the best choice for a business because I simply have no experience using any of the collaborative features. For my personal use? Love it. Swear by it.

Exiled for the Good of the Realm Days 645-657

We had a whirlwind of a Christmas and New Year’s. My brother and his family came for about a week, and Anna adored having her big cousins here. There was a trip to the bookstore and playing on the playground at school and food. Oh so much food. My mom cooked. Jane cooked. Felicity cooked. Emily cooked. Anna cooked. I still had work leading up to Christmas Eve. I didn’t do much cooking.

Santa left these mugs under the tree. One for me. One for Anna. I may have spent an excessive amount of money on Mandalorian themed tea… I’m currently sipping a cup of “Rightful Heritage.” And I would like to thank Republic of Tea for the email about the new Book of Boba Fett teas to remind me of the start of that series.

Anna cried when the cousins left. I was sad to see them go, too. I’ll be glad to be back in our normal routine, but I don’t really want to go back to work on Monday.

New Year’s Eve was a quiet evening at my parents’ house. We made soft pretzels and watched Encanto. Anna had already watched it, but she still cried. So did I.

Tomorrow we go back to normal. We’ll change the sheets and have lunch with my parents before coming home. Then First Grade in the Time of COVID-19 will resume as will my gainful employment.

Here’s to 2022! Happy New Year! Wear your masks, good ones, N-95 or KN-95 if you can get them. Get your jabs. Be gentle with yourself and those around you. I love you all.