It's the Last Day of Distance Learning

It's the last day of distance learning and I have mixed emotions about this.  I'm sad that my son missed out on the end of the year with this class and teacher.  But I'm kind of glad that this distance learning is over.  Although the school did their best with a bad situation, I'm just not sure how effective this has been.  It's hard to learn via iPad.  Most of the worksheets should have been printed out, but I could not do that because of the app the school used.  Doing the worksheets on the iPad was cumbersome.  And he got frustrated very easily.

Due to some of the CDC's guidelines for schools, I'm not really sure how this is going to go in the fall.  Going through an entire school year with partial in school/partial distance learning is going to be disruptive/ineffective in my opinion.  I have to seriously think about how we are going to handle this.  But I don't know if homeschooling is the answer either.  These are troubling times for sure.

I do plan on keeping up with his studies over the summer.  I already told him that we will be doing extra studying and reading.  And he already told me that he's not going to do it.  This should be fun.  The strong willed child vs. the no patience mother.  Good times.

It's May

New month, new hope.

Ohio is starting to open up again, slowly.  This makes me happy and wary at the same time.  I'm not one to rush out and do "all the things", but it gives me hope that the end is in sight (at least the end of the constant need to quarantine).  I'm not planning on eating out but I will still order in once in a while.  Churches are supposed to start opening up, at least for daily mass, on May 25.  I will be interested to see how they handle everything.  Some directives were sent to our priests and one of them posted them online but it still leaves room for each parish to do what they feel is best, as long as it agrees with the states mandated guidelines.  I miss church so much.

Patios for restaurants open this week.  That's great except that it's 37 degrees and snowing here in Ohio.  While eating out on a patio would be a dream, right now I'm going to have to take a hard pass.  This weather is just the pits!  I swear that Ohio's weather is still stuck in March when we first quarantined.  Maybe Mother Nature will start opening up again soon too.  I am ready for warm weather.  I almost NEED it at this point.

Salons open up this week!  I already have my hair appointment scheduled for May 23.  My hair stylist is in one of those new "salon loft" type buildings so she has her own room with a door on it.  It will be just her and me...wearing masks...fixing my horrible gray roots.  I haven't heard from my nail salon yet.  That one I'm a little leery of going back too.  Everything is out in the open and I'm just not sure how comfortable I am with that.  So that one I may wait on a little longer.

I'm still planning on doing "pick ups" at the grocery store.  I really miss grocery shopping and picking out my own items.  But it's not the end of the world and we have made this work for 2 months.  I think I can make it work a while longer.

But while I won't be rushing out and partaking of everything, the soft openings give me hope.  I feel like there is a light at the end of this dark tunnel.

And speaking of "the end", next week is the last week of distance learning.  The kids are surely happy about that.

Moving Forward

Even though we are stuck here in quarantine land, life still has a way of moving forward.

We signed the oldest up for college the other day.  He's registered and his meal plan and room and board have been chosen. He'll be attending Miami University in the fall (at least that's the plan.  We'll have to wait and see what the Governor does about schools opening).

This was NOT an easy decision.  He actually had another college in first place on his list.  He originally wanted a small, Catholic college environment, but his first choice did not come back with enough scholarship money and it was almost $10,000 more per year than his other choices.  We, as his parents, just could not justify paying that much more when we still have two other children who are planning to attend college also.  It broke our hearts to say no, but we have to put the whole family first.  So he moved on to his second choice.  And he is extremely excited!  He is also relieved that he has a plan and is excited to move forward with his life.  I am excited for him!!  I think he will do well here despite the fact that it's bigger and not Catholic.  There is a Catholic church right by campus and he can attend mass, adoration, and confession and they also have ministries that he can join (if his schedules allows).

So while we are house bound for the moment, the future waits for no one.  Even the pandemic can not stop completely the forward trajectory of our lives.  Right now, it just seems that way.

The mixed emotions I have right now are incredible.  I can not imagine my baby leaving our home.  I've dreaded this for 18 years.  But I know it's why God gave me this child in the first place.  It was my job to teach him to fly and it's also my job to let him do that.  Oh it is so hard though.

Ever since this pandemic started, I have been on the verge of tears.  Silly things make me cry.  But now that college is looming in front of us, it's even harder not to wear my emotions on my sleeve and tear up at every little thing.  And while I'm dreading his leaving us, I'm also so very excited for him and can't wait to see where his future leads.  I know God has a plan for him and I'm looking forward to watching his journey.

And I suppose this is all a part of my journey too.  It's one that I'm hoping to embrace with grace.  I guess this is just another thing that I have to put in God's hands.