Covid 19

I am required to wear a mask to work at the pharmacy for the foreseeable future.  I am constantly having to try to deal with foggy glasses. I am a bit hard of hearing, so I can’t watch other people’s lips behind their mask to help me understand what they are saying. We are also behind plexiglass and that is an effective sound barrier. I am still slightly claustrophobic under my mask. I have learned how to deal with these irritants. 

By far the worst part of my mask is now I have a cold sore. The mask transferred the cold sore to under my lip. So now I have two. One in a very weird place. I am wearing a band aid under my mask to protect further transference. I hope I am not prolonging the cold sore with the band aid. 

It feels aweful to the touch. I know I am not supposed to touch my face now, but this makes it harder. I am trying to dry it out with Carmax, which usually works really well for me, but the mask traps moisture from my breath. i feel like it counteracts what I am trying to do with the carmax. 

I know it could be worse. There are so many who have lost jobs during this time. 

Since I am complaining, my work has gone the extra mile and has made traveling outside the county punishable by a two week quarantine for any employee. Craig, who works at the hospital, doesn’t have that kind of Big Brother requirement. It goes away in June. Which I am grateful for because Josh heads to SLC  on June 2nd. More on that later. 

Mother’s Day 2020 from Boaz

I got this lovely letter from Boaz that made me laugh and made me cry. I love that boy. 

Sweet 16

Happy birthday to my boy. We celebrated on May the 4th (Star Wars Day) and were very low key on Cinco de mayo or as his uncle says, Cinco de Boaz day. 

I made him a roast dinner with asparagus and a cheesecake for dessert. 

He has to wait for his Dungeons and Dragons book to come in the mail, and his socks. Josh picked out his new video games. Not too fun having a birthday in the middle of social distancing. But I don’t honestly think he wanted a big deal and it might have been the same any other year. 

We are so blessed to have Boaz in our family. He is an amazing person who wants everyone else to have what they want and to be happy. He keeps his perspective on the eternal and lives what he knows to be true. 

Love you Boaz. 

Trying to fix a mess

I thought I had laid out the blocks carefully. In our new home, I don’t have a sewing room. To see I take over the dining room table. I set up to begin, and I tear down at the end. I have been doing Th is pattern for a few years now. I have been setting out half the quilt to keep it contained. When I sewed the two halves together I noticed the huge mistake. I did not follow the pattern. 

I couldn’t continue. This will be a gift. I couldn’t gift it with such a huge error. 

So now I have this. 

What a mess. I have to sew so much more carefully now. The pattern is broken, and now I will be patching. 

A lesson to be more careful and less casual. 

A first for Josh

Craig and Josh took the dog to the park. She was so happy. Her very favorite thing. 

While there, they met a senior in high school. He is very involved in our little school. And very good at many things. He ran cross country and was in the play with Boaz. 

He came right up to Josh and said, “You must be Boaz’s brother!”

Boaz has always been Josh’s brother. He wasn’t too sure how he felt about the switch in roles. 

He’s home. For now.

Josh had been in quarantine for almost 4 weeks. With no social media to reach out to people. We were lucky because he was an office elder. Secretary to the president and in charge of transportation. So we were able to talk to him frequently. 

He told us probably this Thursday. Then we got an email last Saturday that they would be leaving Sunday, Conference Sunday. 

He wold stay over in LAX and then be in IDA Monday at noon - ish. 

We were all super excited. 

The big welcome home parties were off limits. No big gatherings during the Corona Virus lockdown. 

We got up early and headed to Idaho Falls and stores. Deb saw him in SLC and told us he was one of the elders who didn’t have his luggage. There about 7 who left everything in Peru in the interest of getting all the people home. 

When we got to the airport, we couldn’t go into the lobby. There were two other missionaries coming home on that flight. We all huddled in the entrance, trying to stay six feet apart. I didn’t have any signs and felt kinda bad about that. The other families did. The other two families chatted a bit, but we didn’t join in. 

We watched through the two glass doors to try and catch our first glimpse of him. We knew Th is was not the ideal return for a missionary. But he was part of a whole world wide movement of returning missionaries to their respective homelands. He had just finished his 17 month. So he has the option of going back out. 

I saw him and went and stood in front of the glass door and waited for him to come out to me. When bot doors had opened, and I saw him clearly, I started to cry. One elder came through first and I didn’t even acknowledge him. I only had eyes for my son. It was a hard moment for him. Honestly, it was a very hard hour for him. Emotions running across his face and through his heart. 

I insisted in one picture. Only one. It’s not a good one of Craig. But all my men were together again 

Josh and Boaz were sizing each other up, trying to see if Boaz had grown taller in the past 17 months. We had to wait until we got home and the shoes came off and back to back showed an amazing thing. 

They seems to be the exact same height. I’m sure relief filled Josh’s soul to not have a taller, younger brother. 

The first item of business after the airport was Chick-Fil-A. Craig’s family joined us and circled the cars around us. A weird family celebration with out hugs and touching. Josh chatted with Bridger who had returned from Brazil a week before. He tried to make sure he chatted with everyone. 

Since he had no luggage, I knew that meant no garments. So I called Deseret Book that was in the shopping center and ordered him some new ones. The store was only open for curbside delivery. We were so grateful they were open in any capacity. Josh literally had just the clothes on his back. 

After that we went to get him a cell phone. The store had just 20 minutes before closed to have customers in the store and we got him a cell phone in the parking lot. The salesman was very kind and did all he could to make it a somewhat normal experience. But he got his phone and is now able to interact with people again 

Last stop to Walmart to get him a toothbrush. We added socks and sundry other items. 

We headed back home. 2 1/2 hours to a home he had never seen. He reached out to some people before we hit the hour long cellular hole where there was no signal to be had. 

He called the Stake President and was released over the phone. Another hard moment.   

He was anxious to meet the dog. She has welcomed him in as one of her people. 

He has a list of movies. Last night we watched Marvel’s Endgame. It was fun to see his reaction. 

He has enrolled in an online institute class. He has met the sister missionaries serving in our ward and has an online appointment with today at 4. 

He has reached out to his buddies who are in the same boat as he is. He has reached out to his friends from the mission. He pulled out his trombone and is getting reacquainted wi Th the piano. He and Boaz have gone running with the dog. We are trying to keep busy in the same space. 

I am so grateful to have him home. So blessed to be his mom. So happy to have him under our roof, for as long as we can get him. 

He has reclaimed some of his clothes that Boaz had been enjoying. He is waiting for news on his luggage. He is waiting for his life to begin again. 

A weird and wonderful time. 

Online school

Last week was our regularly scheduled spring break. Today Boaz started school. He went to school, got books and instructions.  Now he is working from home. He has a group chat for math, and he still helping his class figure out the work. 

Craig and I are still working. Craig is a hospital administrator and I am a pharmacy tech in training. 

Today I came home to this. 

We are figuring out this new thing. He’s missing out on the social aspect of school, but I’m glad he is back to work.