Friday, May 1, 2020

High Five for Friday (5.1.20)



One
As you may have read about on Tuesday, on Saturday night I finished my course of antibiotics and on Sunday afternoon Tux was finally released from quarantine. Some days life feels overwhelming, but removing these two stressors definitely lightened the load I've been carrying.


Two
We made it through dance company auditions! The process involved tightening up multiple combinations, learning a full dance, and answering three interview questions - and then filming everything - so it required a lot of time, energy, and focus from both Hallie and me, rather than a normal audition which would just involve Hallie alone bringing her "A Game" for a hour or two. We actually needed Will's help too; he served as DJ, sitting behind us and queuing up each of the songs hundreds of times. (Ok, ok...we didn't play each song hundreds of times. But by the time we finished putting together Hallie's audition, we had filmed almost 100 takes.) I fully understand why we needed to go this route this year, and I'm grateful for the teachers who coordinated the process on the back end...and I'm SO glad it's over.

Three
After a l...o...n...g four days of waiting, we found out on Monday that Hallie made Apprentice AbunDance. Along with joy and excitement, this news brought another round of relief...another small weight lifted off of our shoulders.

Relief seems to be the theme of this week's High Fives. I'll take what I can get!

Four
I want to believe that when August rolls around, the kids will be able to safely return to their school buildings. And I hope that along with picking up where they left off academically, they will be able to pick up where they left off socially and extracurricularly. Sports, fine arts, clubs, service organizations; they fill in the gaps between math tests and science labs and history papers to make intermediate, middle, and high school well-rounded experiences rather than just educational institutions.

This week Will auditioned - virtually, of course - for his middle school's chamber orchestra. We don't know the results yet, but the simple fact that the auditions still took place (kind of like company auditions for Hallie) lifts my spirits. Now we wait, hoping and praying that come fall our kids actually get to participate in all the activities they have worked so hard for and have missed so much these last few weeks.

Five
Our sprinkler system is broken. Tom can usually diagnose and fix sprinkler problems when they arise, but in this instance, he was able to determine that the issue is with a valve we don't have the tools or the skills to replace on our own. While we wait for our new sprinkler repairman to fit us in (our favorite sprinkler repairman recently passed away unexpectedly), we are attempting to keep our grass alive using our very basic portable sprinkler. This is a tedious and time-consuming process - we have a lot of lawn and it takes a LONG time to water everything moving the sprinkler from one spot to the next - but the silver lining is discovering that 13- and 11-year-olds still love running through the sprinkler. Seeing them frolic and listening to them laugh brought a smile to my face, and eventually I couldn't help but join in the fun myself.

Apparently it's really fun to stand directly in the
sprinkler and try not to flinch or move at all
when it passes by your face. 

"Blue Steel"

Pure joy.

Leaping through the water...with a photobomber.

He just couldn't help himself.

Perhaps my favorite photo from quarantine thus far. Those smiles.

Happy weekend, friends!

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