Day 42... The warmth of the sun

The past two days have been the sort of spring glory that gives you hope for the future.  Even during a pandemic.  We (along with all the other Clevelanders) have been flocking to nature to soak up the blossoming trees and brilliant blue sky every moment we can when we're not trying to muddle through our schoolwork...When we're outside in the spring-warm, breezy sunshine, with happy people walking about enjoying it with us (from a safe distance), it's hard to remember that this is not normal life.   It's hard to be scared when the tulips are singing with color and daffodil hill lights up yellow-gold.  It's hard to be sad when your daughter gets to roll down the hill at the park 6 feet from her best friend and the joy radiates for miles.  We are cruising along with schoolwork and I'm at a 75% attendance rate on my newly scheduled 1-1 instruction sessions with students and it is nice to feel almost like a successful teacher for a minute or two.  Our spare time this week has been filled with family bike rides and dandelion chains and morning coffee in the sunshine-- its been a pretty great two days by any standards but shockingly nice for an apocalypse.

Fast approaching our May 1st "reopen" date and debates are fierce and information, like always, is shifting every day.  Our governor has reversed his position on mandatory masks in reopening stores and businesses, moving to just a "recommendation," and people are up in arms.  I agree- I really think people can't be trusted to consistently behave in the interests of the common good without legislation and consequences.  A mandatory order from the Governor takes the questioning and debating out of the issue and honestly, helps people feel safe.  We like to know what the rules are.  There's been a lot of back and forth about wearing masks outdoors, too.   Some friends are now wearing them on all their walks and runs.  Others are confident that outdoor distance is fine.  The only consensus seems to be that we still don't know enough about this virus to actually answer the question. It will certainly be... interesting... to see how this all plays out.

Thinking of masks:  the new Norwex masks were just released and we were able to get our set of 12!  So we'll be ready for whatever guidelines come our way...Now if we can just get Ivy to wear one for longer than 30 seconds...  (or me for that matter!)