January 7

It seems appropriate that as I sit here writing on the eve of our return flight to California, my entire family is camped out in the adjacent dining room of my grandma's house singing along to the John Denver hit "Take Me Home, Country Roads" (which was, as legend has it, partially inspired by a road in Maryland. But I digress).

It's been a bizarre trip to my home state, courtesy of flight delays and the ginormous COVID outbreak and snow. And it's required a tremendous amount of flexibility -- probably more than I could ever muster on my own strength. But still, even amid the challenges, it's been good.

Today was a slow one: with the exception of a late-after trip to Ledo for pizza by Adam, we hung around grandma's house all day long. It snowed again overnight (as the photo in the upper left connotes: I got up at 3 AM and padded out to the dining room to look outside and that's what I saw). When the boys saw the fluffy stuff this morning, they suited up in layers of clothing, grabbed a pair of shovels, and headed out to the driveway to... well, to shovel. With a small amount of success: It was windy and the snow was of the airy variety, so it blew here and there and to and fro, and even as they worked to move it out of the way, it seemed determined to relocate itself to its original locale. (Which was okay with Isaac and Brady.)

For my part, I mostly stayed inside and crocheted and watched grandma watch TV. I guess that sounds weird, but I can remember her crocheting and making stuffed animals for the babies at the hospital all those years ago in that very same room while I watched TV, so in my mind, the role reversal felt poetic. 

Anyway, after lunch and a few hours inside, the boys went out yet again, this time to make a snowman Brady named Fernando. And then there was the aforementioned pizza dinner, during which we somehow got on the subject of my upcoming birthday and how Adam put 43 candles on my cake last year, which prompted Adam to show my grandma a video of me blowing out said candles. (Hence the pic of her smiling in the collage. I like that picture; it feels genuine and real.)

So yes, that was today. It was yet another simple day in a string of simple days, but it was a good day that melded my past with my present. And I am thankful for the hours.