Yesterday afternoon we joined an extended family Zoom call, in which people were talking about what they've been up to, and afterward I was keenly aware of how many things we have not been doing. "I want to go to a restaurant," I said a little mournfully. "I want to look at a menu and share an appetizer and think about the specials and have someone wash my dishes without my having to ask."
"We can make that happen!" said Pete.
I thought he meant, "You can stop living such a narrow life and go to a dang restaurant," but what he actually meant was "We can bring a restaurant to you!"
He and Stella put their heads together and created a menu. I heard them in the kitchen: "What does Mom especially like to eat?"
Not long afterward they seated me at the dining room table. Stella was the waitress; Pete was the chef. The menu had an appetizer section, from which I requested the hummus with toasted pita. They brought me a pretty little plate: perfectly toasted triangles of pita, a dollop of hummus, a little glass dish of nice olives. To drink I had a glass of seltzer over ice with a splash of real lemonade.
The menu offered me a number of entrée options; I chose pizza bread with quartered artichoke hearts. Pete washed every dish afterward.
You guys, I felt so loved.
The COVID situation here has been so bad lately. Our official case count, which is surely only a fraction of the actual cases in town, just kept vaulting upwards over the top of the y axis. Our case record had stood since November of 2020, but earlier this month the official tally spiked up to almost four times that previous record. Cases, positivity, hospitalizations-- you name it, we were setting new records just about every day. The hospitals were overflowing.
So we've been living a pretty quiet life over here. We're back to online church with drive-through communion; we're wearing KN95 masks everywhere we go. I suppose it makes sense that if an extraordinarily contagious virus is unleashed in a county that's only moderately vaccinated, there's going to be a lot of viral replication happening. But watching it unfold was still astonishing.
We seem to have turned a corner; cases and positivity are down. Overall hospitalizations are still high, though our local public radio station reports that we have more available ICU beds in part because of a series of ICU deaths. It all feels pretty grim, and I think I will hold off on flipping through any menus in person for a while longer.
But at dinner tonight I told the kids again how much I appreciated their willingness to make my wish happen. And this is the best part of all: Pete sighed happily at the memory, and said, "That was so fun!"
How sweet and kind of Pete and Stella 🤗
Here, we too have been experiencing a horrific surge. We have smashed all records, on every level, including child infections and child hospitalizations ... our county has a high vaccination rate, and we have a public mask mandate. But of course that isn't statewide ... it is all so awful.
We are sheltering for the long long term, having medical conditions that could not bear the scourge.
Posted by: Penelope | January 25, 2022 at 06:01 AM
Not gonna lie, got a little teary-eyed at your kids' loving on you. That is amazing.
Like you, we're pretty holed-up right now, for the same reasons. Large surge here too, that's hopefully dropping off a bit. The "cheery" news this morning that the Rate of Acceleration is slower. That's good, I guess? Or at least less-bad?
Posted by: mary d | January 25, 2022 at 08:45 AM
Oh my gosh, this is the SWEETEST. What loving family members you have!
So very glad that things seem to be turning the corner. Hoping that this valley is... a very long, wide valley with no future peaks.
Posted by: Suzanne | January 25, 2022 at 04:11 PM