I used to love the game Minesweeper when I was a kid/teen.

The premise of the game is to clear the squares without clicking a bomb. According to Wikipedia “In order to win the game, players must logically deduce where mines exist through the use of the numbers given by uncovered cell”.  I feel like talking about the coronavirus right now is a lot like playing minesweeper. You can read the clues and skip through the board as best you can, but you never know when you are going to click the wrong thing and detonate a bomb or in the case of real-life, tick someone off. With that said I will warn you that I am talking about loosening the reigns a tad for social distancing. I know this can be a trigger for some people.

Anyway, this month Ohio is starting to open back up. It’s gradual but there is a huge shift in the atmosphere here.

A lot of people are out and about walking, sitting on benches, and visiting. There are more cars on the road and gas prices are going back up. It was a pretty good week for me compared to some of the previous ones.

On Monday we wore our Star Wars shirts for “May the 4th”.

Tuesday I had my first photoshoot since quarantine. Ezie learned to ride a bike without training wheels so we did a lot of that.

Z decorated a yard sign for his elementary graduation.

SJ went on a virtual field trip and so she had no school work on Thursday which was a huge relief since she has had a difficult time keeping up.

On Saturday our church had an outreach in the parking lot and the women’s ministry gathered items to be donated to people in need. They ended up with three van fulls. We were all bundled up with masks and sunglasses on so it was hard to really see anyone’s face but at least we could “see” each other and it was great to be able to do something for the community.

After that our family went to some plant nurseries to brainstorm for our backyard makeover and it’s getting pretty exciting.

J and Z are working on doing digital sketches and plans for the yard which will hopefully include a zipline! The kids all worked together to design their dream tree house (not that we can create it, but it’s still fun to dream).

There are still so many things that are off-kilter right now as we try to fight this virus. The stores are out of fresh meat. You can only buy in limited quantities which for a family of 6 is less than we would normally eat. We still aren’t at school or church, so that’s a huge difference. One thing I really miss is the library and another thing is thrift stores. I am all about eco-friendly shopping and recycling or borrowing to reduce waste and consumption, but right now we can’t do that and so it breaks my heart. Lots of people will be throwing items away because there is nowhere to donate. People like myself that would normally buy used or borrow are forced to buy new.  I know this is nothing compared to some of the bigger issues, but it is something that I think about.

It has been a long two months and writing each week has really helped me to process all of this. I realize it’s been a while since I have written about anything other than my quarantine updates. I do hope that I can start “reopening” as a blogger and write about other topics soon. While distance learning school is in session my time is extremely limited so I don’t know exactly when that will happen, but it’s something I will look forward to.