I’ve seen several ENT’s and they all said it’s rather common with viruses. All I was really told was to try smelling lots of things. I’m pretty sure I can smell coconut and cinnamon now, but I’m honestly not sure if I just think it smells like I remember or if I can actually smell it. There wasn’t much given to me at the time to try so hopefully with it happening now with Covid there will be new things that will work.

I hope you find something that works! I’ve had the same problem for the last eight years after having the flu. Nothing has worked for me but I have become more used to it so it’s not as awful now.

My mom’s hospital is losing staff due to burnout, not vaccines. Healthcare workers where she’s at are just done.

I sympathize. Ds’ fiancé’s family did have Covid this year. Her dad was in the hospital and came home on oxygen but is, thankfully, completely back to normal now. We’ve wrestled with it as well but we’re also not willing to tell them they aren’t welcome in our home. We spent Thanksgiving together and they will both be with us for Christmas. We know they will see her family around those times as well and we just hope the fact that we’re all boosted will be enough. I ordered several Binax tests through Sam’s club and we can all take those before my mom comes (she’s boosted as well but is 70). My mom, though, doesn’t care about it at all and is fine visiting with no one testing. 🙃 We will test to make me feel better.

I have now lived outside of Texas longer than I lived there (first 20 years of my life) and I have moments almost daily where I say something with a horrible twang. Mine definitely gets worse when talking with family still there as well or watch something with the accent. I’ve lived in several places since leaving - CA, FL, IA, IN. I thought I would have completely lost it by now but at least it gives my family a good laugh when it happens. Yesterday, I said water with a tang from like when I was itty bitty and my dc completely lost it. I don’t know why it still randomly happens.

Dh and I usually wake around six and our dc barely wake around 9 with alarms blaring, so I guess we’re lucky in that regard.

Yes! I was baptized three times before I was 18 because I basically was made to feel like I was a very bad girl and was then always told to ‘ask Jesus into my heart’ again. It took me a long while to shake off what church did to me growing up. My own dc were only baptized once and they were older teens who completely made that decision themselves and I never put them in a church like mine growing up.

It varies by what’s going on and who’s living with us. 🤪 When both dc were in school and Dh started working from home, it was daily. Covid hit and dc we’re home all day, it went back to 3-4 times a week. Both dc moved out for college and we were back to daily. Youngest started having medical issues and just moved back in with us and we’re back to just 3-4 days a week. 🙃 We’re both fine with how things are and know it’s just a season. We’re stressed about youngest and just hope to get them back where they want to be.

While the dc are in college we have to cram our favorite holiday stuff into just a week (finals will be done the 18th here). So, we have a list of just the really important movies (White Christmas, Grinch, Peanuts, etc), and we’ll do cookies and hot chocolate. Christmas Eve we drive around with our favorite cookies and look at Christmas lights. Sometime that week we’ll put together the Lego gingerbread house. Both dc and ds’ fiance are staying over Christmas Eve so we’ll spend Christmas Day in our pjs, eat lots of food, and watch Christmas Story on a loop on tv. When we have more time we usually like to go see a Nutcracker performance and The Polar Express at IMAX. I love Christmas and I’m super excited both dc are still into everything and spending it with us. I know the time is coming they probably won’t so I’m soaking it all up while I can.

I had one of those teachers and she ended up fired by the end of the year. She was busted doing drugs with students! Ah, I really hated high school.

Maybe I’m confusing people, but isn’t the OP a school guidance counselor? If so, she came here to get a feel so maybe not as black and white and you are portraying it to be for counselors.

Yes, I no longer speak to either of my siblings. Neither do my dc but my dc have gone rounds with my siblings about their disrespect for me. Oldest told my sister that he has no interest in a close relationship with someone who disrespects his mother. He’s very close to myself, dh, and his sibling. I’m definitely not seeing this trend people here speak of with younger generations. For myself, I just stopped buying into the lie that I’m the one being disrespectful if I cut you off for being disrespectful. I miss my siblings but they know where I am and what needs to happen for us to come together again and they don’t seem interested, so oh well.

You really need to step away from their social media and absolutely need to stop telling them what they should and shouldn’t post. If you can’t stop taking it all so personally then you need to unfriend/unfollow. My mom and I are on complete opposite ends of the political spectrum but neither of us tell the other to stop posting things. Each of us has probably offended the other but we’re adults and learn to ignore those things for the most part. My Dh unfollowed my mom on social media because it was too much. It bothered my mom at first but after I explained and after she had time to digest all is well. Honestly, my mom and I didn’t speak for several months due to things with my dc and we’ve just recently come back together so we’re still a work in progress. But we absolutely don’t police each other’s social media.

I would be upset and I would say something. I would let them know I didn’t think it was ok what my dc did what I would also tell them their approach at handling it was not the right one. I’m honestly laughing at those who think straight A, 4.0 kids don’t skip school? I did, dh did, our siblings did, Ds did, and so many other good students I’ve known. None were out doing drugs but sometimes a kid just needs a break from it all. I mean, your son stayed at the school and hung out with friends in the cafeteria so the AP’s reaction was ridiculous. I totally understand that some will believe bad things about people based on these kinds of things but I also don’t think it’s right, so I definitely wouldn’t be acting like that’s a reason not to do something so totally harmless.

I’m not going to comment on most of the stuff in your OP but we did have issues with oldest remembering things very differently. He was only 16-17 at the time and we had a great therapist who helped us all through it. She didn’t let him, or us, get away with anything and ds was able to come away from it realizing we did our best and loved him, but we definitely aren’t perfect (and that was ok). We’re super close now years later. So, I wonder if maybe your next group counseling session could be with your therapist and not theirs to maybe give them a different perspective? I also wouldn’t completely discount everything they’re saying. There could be some things you also are not remembering correctly. Good luck!

Some schools are funded based on average daily attendance. When my dc were in elementary school they gave me no problems about attendance as long as they were there for the first few minutes for roll call. Several times that’s what I did and then we left. Picking up early was never an issue because they had already been counted.

I was once mystified by us going through bird seed so fast until one day I turned the corner and saw a chipmunk hanging upside down in the storage container stuffing his cheeks. It was in our sunroom and I had no idea the little guy could fit under the door. I really didn’t expect him to be able to pull open the spout in the top either. 🤣 Good luck with finding a solution.

Oldest met his now fiancé through a different person he met on a dating app. 🤪 I find it funny but it’s really worked out and he’s happy (and they’re all still friends).

Both of mine are over 18, but I went to the CVS site to try and it worked for a hypothetical 13 year old if I chose third dose instead of booster and clicked the box they were compromised. I was able to get to choose an appointment time and day and it brought up available appointments. FTR, all four of us (ages 20-48) here were boosted before it was opened up to everyone and no one ever asked us at our appointments what our medical reason was for doing so. Three of the four of us had valid reasons anyway but I wanted Dh boosted as well.

It was Dh and I, both dc, and ds’ fiancé. My mom also stopped by but not for food. I cooked a ham, Turkey breast, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, apple pie, and pumpkin pie. Later, we enjoyed some wine and games. It was a really great day!

Yes! Youngest was a huge Munsch fan when little and LYF wasn’t on my radar as weird (any weirder than the rest of his books) until I saw people complaining on this forum.

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My parents never had medical insurance for us. I remember driving myself to the doctor and just signing his book that I was there and we would pay. It was never an amount that we couldn’t handle. My first “real” job at 19 that came with insurance was an easy form I filled out. I eventually became the benefits coordinator and it was nothing compared to what Dh and I have to do today once a year. I never had to hassle with doctors/hospital/insurance until I was much older. It’s just all gone crazy. Ds has even had to jump through crazy hoops to make sure he graduates next spring. Honestly, the days I went to college that involved a catalog, phone, and advisor were so much easier. And my dc hate their smart phones and wish people didn’t think they were accessible 24/7. That part of things has really gotten out of hand (like professors changing assignments or adding something last minute because they have such access). Or employers!! I could take a day off and not worry but today you can be reached at any time and employers know it and expect it.

I definitely notice a huge difference in medical care today versus when I was a young adult. I still have to step in and help my 22 year old ds almost every flipping month with his prescriptions because insurance tries to wiggle out of it and the pharmacy continually gets confused by them. Oldest is slowly figuring out how to take it all over but every now and then I still have to step in. Youngest is 20 and I have to help them get specialty appointments because there are many more hoops to jump through today. Youngest is autistic so there is another layer, but insurance and doctors have made it almost impossible for them to do it alone at times.

I wouldn’t skip but I understand why someone would and I wouldn’t think badly of it. We’re all vaxxed here but only Dh and I have had boosters. We are hanging out with our college dc (who are definitely out and about) pretty regularly and are back to eating indoors. Dh is also in Vegas at this very moment visiting family we haven’t seen since this all began. He won’t be quarantining or doing anything different when he returns unless he starts feeling ill. We’ve decided that getting our vaccines hopefully means when/if we do get it that we won’t be too ill and are just kind of hoping for the best. Our youngest dc wasn’t doing well with being so worried so we all decided it was for the best to get back to normal as much as we could. At this point I feel most of this is really a personal decision.