Family times

I figured the alarm would rudely awaken me from a deep sleep this morning at 5:15 a.m. but I was up before it due to a restless child and accompanying restless dreams. I might have even beaten my mom up, as it was still dark upstairs (if so, that's one for the record book!). Yesterday Terah and Alida got their second Covid shots. They were doing fine at bedtime and likely will do just fine today, but our kids have a tendency towards a dramatic flair at night if anything is amiss. Speaking of shots, last week our big family outing was to the CVS in Target, where Jason, Kali and I got our booster shots while the younger two got flu shots. The adventure was made more exciting by us getting there only to realize I was the only one that had my Covid vaccine card. Jason had to run all the way home for his and Kali's. My brain is definitely in detail-overload mode. 

Since we were not doing any major travel over the Thanksgiving holiday, it seemed a wise time to go ahead and get our booster shots. I have such conflicted feelings about the Thanksgiving holiday anyway that I figured it good timing to potentially feel kind of lousy. And I did!! The day was sprinkled with sweet messages from people expressing gratitude for friendship and our relationships to each other. I found myself really loving the aspect of this holiday where people focus on what we mean to each other. So I savored those connections and we made a family donation to the Monacan Nation as our way of marking this US holiday.

The night before, when the effects of the shot had not taken hold of me, we made the menus for our two meals together the next day. I definitely drug myself through brunch preparations - enjoying it mostly due to spending that time also video chatting with Tala! It was a very good distraction from the feverish aches. And then I medicated myself to assist me in at least somewhat enjoying a day at home all together. Thankfully it lasted just a day and it was a day that little was required of us. Other than making food and tending animals, we hadn't set out to accomplish much so some lounging time happened, including watching a Christmas movie together.

Our only trip over the long weekend was a short trek up 81 to meet Jason's family at a recreation area in Maryland. The car was packed as if we were going away for days, as we loaded up as much warm stuff as we could for visiting out in the elements. We didn't end up needing the sleeping bags, but it was reassuring to have them just in case. It was a lot of hours in the car for a few short hours in each other's presence. I also felt like I left not having had the chance to even connect briefly with each person there. Too short for sure, but there is also probably great value in just showing up in each other's presence (in the flesh) every now and then, since most of our interactions of the last two years have been via Zoom.

It was dark when we headed towards home. Partway home we had an unusual Myers-Benner family occurrence - we were spontaneous!!! There were a bunch of Christmas lights right off the interstate at a fairgrounds. We pulled off to see if we could see them closer and sure enough you could drive through, tuning in to Christmas music on the radio. We discovered the fair was in process with people riding the rides with lights attached. We also discovered that there was a $25 per car charge for driving through - we found a near exit and enjoyed the few we saw on our way out. Instead, we spent that money on snacks! 

I had the thought of introducing our kids to Wendy's frosties but then saw a Baskin Robbins next door. By that time, Jason had verbalized his interest in a sandwich, so we decided to get into the drive thru line for him to get a sandwich and then we'd buzz next door for ice cream for the rest of us. We were sitting there for awhile (clearly other people were also needing snacks on their drives to and fro) just chatting about whatever. All of a sudden, Terah piped up, "How do you know they are going to give you a sandwich?" We laughed...a lot! And then took time to explain to her how a drive thru works. We realized she had not had the experience of ordering a sandwich from a fast food restaurant and was curious how the people inside this building had intuited that her daddy wanted a sandwich and would just give him one. It reminded me of the first time I took Kali through a drive thru to cash in a summer reading program coupon for a Dairy Queen ice cream cone. As she started licking her cone, she pondered, "I didn't know they had ice cream at the bank!"