This. I mean, at this point, my 85 year old mother in law with bad kidneys, PAD, hip issues, knee issues, and beginning dementia wants to sail on our boat. The chances of her falling trying to get her in the boat are pretty big. On the other hand, she could stroke out tomorrow or fall in our house and break a hip/die, and of course we face the future of her being in a facility and doing pretty much nothing as well. I think we may have arrived at "if we can knock off a bucket list item, go for it" and let the chips fall where they may. But, we also have buy in from Dh's brother who is the other opinion we seek and pay attention to. His sister a narcissist who has burned all her bridges, is not consulted. I agree about the net. I have seen kids bounce off those things and take some wicked falls, so really no one should be on one without that.

I think this is very true.

I don't regret it per se. I have twinges at times about what happened to my once very budding music performance career. However, when a cardiologist tells you to take your little son home, isolate him, keep him as healthy as possible in the hopes his condition will stabilize so open heart surgery is not necessary, you do your best to make it so. And after a few years, it was obvious that if we put the kids in school and I went back to work, it was going to be a disaster because the kids really thrived homeschooling, and had become very close to the pod of families we allowed in our lives because they respected our son's health and stayed home when sick allowing them to have some outings, some friends, some birthday parties. Additionally, our schools were eliminating just about everything academically for above average students. There wasn't be going to be DE, AP, Honors, electives, etc. for them. There educations were going to wilt if we placed them in school so we forged ahead. It was the hand life dealt us. I was making good money when it happened, but my career did not provide low cost group medical insurance and Mark's did. Given the situation, the logical choice was for his career to move forward, and I would be the one to take the hit. Life gives you lemons..... So, yes, just only taking into consideration, myself, I have some sadness at times. But, some of the twists and turns have been good too. Once ds was given the all clear to have a more normal life, we joined 4H, became leaders of a STEM club, and had eleven wonderful years of working with kids on a myriad of really great projects, eleven years of mentoring competitive rocketry teams, and eleven years of personal growth we might not have had otherwise if my music career had taken off. (We stayed with 4H for three years after our last child went to college, but due to changes with the local Council and programming locally, it wasn't tenable for us to continue. Otherwise, we would probably still be involved.) It ignited a passion for aerospace engineering I never knew I had, and since my last child graduated homeschooling and went to college, I have been taking college coursework related to this field. I have loved being back in college, and dh, grateful that I set aside my career for the kids, has been 100% gleefully supportive of me doing basically whatever I want in my homeschool retirement. So I have held a fine arts program director job which was really fulfilling until covid gutted it, and college classes, and some independent travel as well. I am working towards my goal of eventually being qualified to judge documentation and presentations for the International Rocketry Engineering Competition sponsored by Spaceport USA/ERSA.

Infrastructure is a huge deal. We have friends in D.O.B., and that is the issue where they are serving. They do the best they can to get folks vaccinated, but imagine the logistics when there are hundreds and thousands of square miles without ANY medical infrastructure at all, and you and your underfunded, tiny staffed NGO are trying to reach folks. It is a staggering task and far more vaccine goes to waste than gets distributed.

That is us. We have had several doctor's offices close in the trip county area because we have a lot of docs over 50, and after dealing with a year of covid, decided to retire. Then some of them have lost nurses to hospitals offering huge money. They can't staff their offices for more than 20 hrs a week so GP care is rationed. I haven't seen my GP since this whole thing started and when I called, I was told unless I was very sick, it would be 6-12 months before they might have an appointment for me. I have one prescription I take, and they just renewed another year's worth without even ten seconds of telemedicine. I am on the edge of qualifying conditions, and I do a lot of household care for my 85 year old mother in law who had JnJ, and her doc says she doesn't need a shot of Pfizer (😠), this despite the fact that her immune system is low functioning so she probably doesn't have much immunity from the JnJ. I and so over this mess is staggers the imagination. It is like a nightmare I can't wake up from, the dream that never ends. Meanwhile, the unvaxed, anti-mask, covid is a hoax neighbors keep having large parties at their house. They are nothing more than ticking time bombs! 😤

Yes. The other couple reported a potential stalker, a creepy guy hanging around. Unless Gabby got separated from Laurie and there was a serial killer on the loose, Laudrie is the likely suspect. If he was separated from her and she were killed by someone else, one would think he would be cooperating with authorities to find the killer, and would have reported that in Wyoming. Dh did bring up one possibility. She had told police she was afraid he was going to drive off and abandon her. If he did that in Grand Tetons, took off while hiking, since the van was titled to her and they weren't married so not marital property, would he be guilty of grand theft auto? Legally, what would be considered his responsibility in the matter, must he inform someone that she is hiking alone, reckless endangerment, negligent homicide? Manslaughter? At any rate, his refusal to answer police questions or cooperate with attempts to locate her is very damning in the court of public opinion. But if they never find her, I wonder if there will be any charges at all. As for the other couple, I hope they find that peep fast. Something about the description of finding their bodies made me think potential of a serial killer in the making. I shudder to think about that! This whole thing is a little creepy in our minds from the standpoint of it being a Vanlife couple. Dh and I are working our way towards being in a position to do a year of Vanlife after he retires and visiting a bucket list of National Parks, Forests, and Historic Parks. We were not going to travel with any pets, but maybe we should consider a German Shepherd or Collie (I love Collies) or other breed as a deterrent to crime. Being transient does raise one's risks, however having a large breed dog has been shown to be good protection because criminals fear being bits and barking alerts people nearby.

Yes, thank you. This exactly! My beef is with the cops making a judgment call that they don't have the training or expertise to make.

Yes, I was mentioning this from the simple perspective of police work. They didn't know. Why leave it to chance? Let the professional counselors and advocates sort it out. That is what I was saying. I am not casting aspersions on her, but on a system that just perpetually does not make judgments based on health and well being, and has far too many preconceived, incorrect notions about mental health and domestic violence. This was not about saying she was the "bad" one. They didn't know what they didn't know. Instead of assuming, there should have been a policy that they seek out the professionals to intervene and see if they can determine what is up. Had that happened, there is a chance we would not be here grieving the fact that we don't think she will be found alive.

Oy!

For me, how this played out is why I really wish we spent more resources for mental health and domestic violence training for Leos, but actually maybe had fewer Leos, and more social workers and counselors. Ideally, every PD would have some so that officers could just not have to make these judgment calls, and let the pros talk to people. I think of so many mentally ill people who have been killed or beaten because the responding officers were not properly trained and didn't travel to these calls with mental health professionals. I would just really support a big change in how community policing works and provide Leos with the right people to help them do the serve part better.

I just can't wrap my head around that. Because just from a domestic violence situation, what about his safety? They can't just assume she wouldn't hurt him either. I mean maybe an arrest on an assault charge would have ended with a psychiatrist or psychologist doing an evaluation and she might have shared exactly what was going on. It just seems so wrong to say, take a break for the night and hope for the best. Sigh. I mean, it isn't like women are never violent. So many things going around in my head. Like you, Scarlett. I have this sinking feeling she is not going to be found alive. I hope I am wrong.

Lying is a thing! Extended family that knows the truth of how my uncle, cousin's wife, and cousin's child died, lie about it all over social media or claim that the doctors lied, and they really had meningitis. 😠 It is makes my blood boil, and is such a disservice to the public.

That is what I read. But, I just realized that the "article" was not from the source I thought it was so it might not be accurate, and is instead conjecture. I clicked on one I thought was from a regular news agency, and just found out it was a tabloid, so I am going to go delete that.

I do also believe that our culture has been so male first/man is everything dominated for so long, women have been taught to ignore their better judgment. I have no idea if that happened in this case. There are so many things that could be at play here. Edited out my previous comments on police, because so just red looked at the article, and I don't thinkt he source wad good. I thought I clicked on a news agency, and instead, accidentally clicked on a tabloid so it was probably nothing but stupid conjecture. Sorry everyone!

This is so sad! Those poor babies. I weep for them. Tragic and unnecessary. Here, as someone else said, dying of covid is considered "taking one for the anti-vax team". I will never understand it, but I began blocking people on Facebook who posted this stuff, and have some former 4H families whose emails are sent straight to spam/trash. It means that I have greatly narrowed my circle to a paltry number of people. I did hear through the grapevine that my covid is a hoax nephew (not to be confused with my super wonderful nephew and wife who are our dear friends) is livid his wife, a CNA at a nursing home, has been fired. She refused to meet the deadline to be vaccinated, refused to mask, refused to test. She plans on suing the nursing home. I don't think m that will go well for her. We have exactly nothing to do with them anymore. His older and younger brothers, the nephews and niece-in-laws with their heads on straight, are only speaking with him briefly by phone once per month, hanging on by a thread. Here is the loony thing, this niece in law who refused to be covid tested has to be drug tested regularly for her job. She never squeaked about that. 🙄

That rings true for us. My cousin's wife, father, and one of his children all lost to covid. They live two miles from us. The parent of one of mine former 4H members, and then two acquaintances from Dh's work. Except for my uncle, none of them were over 60, and my cousin's wife was 58, but his child was 32, and the work acquaintances were under 50. We know three people, not super duper well but well enough to know some details, who have been permanently disabled by covid or at least it appears that way since they had it last fall and have been told they will likely never be able to work again. These are people who are in their 40's, so the financial devastation is huge since they were nowhere near retirement age and don't have the savings on which to live. In my entire life, I have never known anyone who died of influenza much less was even hospitalized or permanently disabled. I know that it does happen, but it is so rare compared to this virus. So when deniers claim "it's like the flu", I want to lose my mind all over them. But, that is a waste of energy because it changes nothing. Until it comes to their house and takes out someone they love, they won't believe, and they are too narcissistic to give a crap about the other humans around them.

Truth!

If you lived here, I would be thrilled to take you.

The program is seriously wonky. This week facebook decided I like to cook! I ave never clicked on any ad of any kind that would give it this impression. I don't post pictures of food on my page. I hate cooking though I am good at it. Clearly facebook has lost its ever loving mind!!

All three of my guys were that skinny in high school and one was quite tall. We got skinny jeans from American Eagle, and they had 26 and 27" waist. That ds as a 23 year old still only wears 27" waist so he still does skinny jeans. My other two made it 28" in adult hood and wear Old Navy skinny jeans.

We are seeing a lot of covid fatigue here, people who used to be cautious throwing all considerations to the wind. We are also just beginning to ramp up, and already a local sheriff's deputy who was well known and loved has died of covid. Has this changed local behavior? No it has not. Our vax rate is only 42% for fully vaxed, and 39% for one shot. The difference between those two numbers is so low that it means pretty much everyone who is willing to be vaxed has been vaxed and few have changed their minds and are waiting for the next shot. The only thing that works in favorite of this county is how rural it is and how spread out. Our demographic for school age children is low compared to other counties - school populations have been shrinking for the last 20 years because more and more families have left. So spread may not be quite as bad as counties south of here. But that doesn't mean it won't get ugly, and we have no hospitals with respiratory therapists or a single ICU bed, so everyone gets turfed from the stitch and ditch to the city hospitals in a lovely attempt to further overwhelm those hospitals. Our circle will shrink. In a rare moment of fun with someone outside my immediate clan, I had afternoon tea at a tea house with outside dining. The lady I went with is a friend whom I have not been able to spend time with since the pandemic started. It was a beautiful day outside, and the staff masked. Once our tea and salads, and fruit, was served the staff stayed away. We had a bell to ring if we needed anything. It was lovely. But she told me she is tired of it all, and had decided that after our outing, she was no longer going to be cautious, mask, etc. So it is going to be another long stretch of not doing anything with anyone. I spent some time crying last night. It had gone so well, and I had found an outdoor cafe on the water about an hour from here and was going to invite her to go next week, my treat. I ended up not doing it since she indicated she was going to an indoor, women's bible study with about 25 women most of whom she admitted were anti-vax. I came home and cried. I so desperately wanted to go to the outdoor cafe with someone who is not my mother, mother in law, kids, or husband. I adore my family and love them intensely, but sometimes it is just nice to have a friend, different perspectives, different topics of conversation. I have made a reservation at the cafe to go alone. They have really nice GF options. I will take a book and just be alone, but at least it is a change of scenery and not an elderly woman outing. I love the mothers, but since they rely so heavily on me it is weary to have every aspect of my life always about them, and neither one ever stops to consider me or my feelings. They can be very draining emotional and physically.

I agree, and it will be way worse than this one. I told dh the other day that we need to get used to the idea of hunkering down with our mothers and adult kids, using delivery, enjoying mother nature away from groups, masking in public places, and watching our favorite orchestras on livestream because about the time we maybe, just maybe, manage to tamp down covid or it mutates to a much less dangerous form, another one is going to pop up. Masking in public may be a permanent thing for those that want to protect their loved ones, and many of us will have to make permanent decisions about whom to shut out of our lives permanently. At some point I do expect medical science to come up with more vaccines and other means of boosting immunity as well as treatments that work rapidly to prevent long lasting damage, but I think we are still a decade away from ramping up and funding the research, having enough researchers, and the means of production and mass distribution. I don't think particularly the USA will learn it's lessons this first time around. Too much of the nation, too much of the political structure was against doing the work.

Katie, before making a decision, please call the youth director and ask about it. Let them know that you have very special health concerns at home yet are also trying to balance that with your child's emotional and mental well being. Ask if they would consider changing it to a cook out, Smores around the fire, sleep out under the stars kind of thing, and if bugs and such are a big issue, see if families can bring tents for their own children or borrow them. Maybe people in the church would love to offer their tents, maybe come and create a tent city for the kids, leave a positive, nurturing message/sign for each tent. It could end up being something super special for everyone, and yet more covid sensitive.

I recognize that. It was just one of those fleeting thoughts, but the reality wad that we saw a ton of Non essential workers in that age range party like NO tomorrow! It did not help anything for anyone most certainly the elderly. I mean a ton of partying. I still have visceral.reactions about it when I see the fall out. I am aware that a full lockdown did not have to happen. On the other hand, the Easter party during the shutdown that the staff and family of the local nursing home through DURING the shutdown happened. So much sh#t from so many corners and now we are going into two years of this, and still trying to figure out what to do. I am tired. Tired to the bone of it.

You are so right about grey. When we were looking at homes in the Huntsville Metro area, everyone was "updating" with grey. It.was.everywhere. Our realtor, whom we made friends with other those that was really nice, says that she is glad that we chose to simply go with colors we like in the new house and not the spring real estate trends because it is already falling out of favor.