We're ba-ackkkkkk!

For the first time, I think, since Seth wound up at Walter Reed and we really started this wild adventure together, I’ve taken a couple months off of this regular update. Most of it was the move, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that the reason I always found time was Mamma Gran, who enjoyed it so and who passed away this year. Somehow it made it easier to shove aside, knowing she wasn't anxious for an update.

Since I last wrote, we survived a frenetic, chaotic, COVID-impacted PCS move.

It included sainted grandparents driving kids back and forth to North Dakota in the space of a single week.

Hasty and inadequate goodbyes.

Six weeks of me driving back and forth to work two jobs in two different states because the Army simply could not figure out how to move people amidst a pandemic. Couch surfing. Meals taken at gas stations. Too little sleep. Patchwork childcare. A computer broken in the move. A treadmill still sitting in the carport. Zero bandwidth for anything.

A totaled C-max, and a new (to us) Subaru.

So. Many. Mask adjustments.

But also, friends-who-are-family.

Much-needed pool time.

A stunning new house that I’m only just now settling into,

but which includes lake access that has radically improved the quality of a COVID summer.

Not to mention fishing.

Now that I'm finally here fulltime, we're unpacking the last few boxes and getting used to a new routine. Fairfax County is doing a full virtual back to school and we're a hard pass on six hours of screen time for kindergarten, so instead we're doing letter flashcards and hitting the best swimming holes in driving distance).

COVID has cut down on crowds, so we've also done a tiny bit of tourist-ing.

But mostly we're settling in, enjoying the last few weeks of summer,

feeling wildly grateful for Grandma, without whom none of this move would've been possible,

and- in this season of turbulence and uncertainty- grabbing all the silver linings we can.

(Ford seems to be the best at this.)