Whites Ridge Run

Abstract, aka short version, aka Instagram summary of my glorious Monday run: I indulged in a long rugged solo run with wind-whispering pines, sun-warmed sap scent, sky-hugging views, and rushing icy water for company. It aired out my soul.

Detailed version: On Monday, May 11th, I decided to go on a trail run in Ahtanum State Forest, since most WA state parks opened back up the previous week. Jeff endorsed the outing and manned the home front while I wandered. Before I left, I looked up Whites Ridge Trail online to make sure that it was actually open. It was, so I packed a sandwich, an extra pair of socks, and some water, and drove the 75 minutes to the trailhead. I listened to piano music on the way there, and felt that familiar heady soaring sensation of freedom with every lovely note. Then I started passing actual trees and my anticipation mounted even higher. I asked myself over and over why I hadn't sought natural solitude before now, with all of the relentless home-home-home time we've had lately. Then I remembered that state parks only just barely opened up one week ago, and many of our favorite trails and all of our nearby national parks are still all closed. This outing was an extra-special treat.

The day for mothers

Mother's day is complicated. It catapults so many mixed up emotions into the air all at once, I get into a tangled twisted muddle. Normally I am content to do the mom gig and all that goes with it--currently, everything I do goes unnoticed and is taken for granted. But stupid ole mother's day comes along and makes me want things, like a little extra appreciation and love. During the week leading up to mother's day, I ran my own annoying personal gauntlet of emotions regarding the idea of mother's day. It was exhausting, but I made it out of the dark cavern little by little and now I am safely on the other side, back in the open air, back in my usual position behind the spotlight. I realize that my issues with mother's day are tame and lame compared to what many others go through, but that doesn't make them any less valid. I have a loving husband and three healthy kids; I shouldn't complain about them not "caring enough" on mother's day, whatever that even means. But I feel that way and it's ok. I get over it and we move on.

Spring Sunday

Jeff wasn't feeling well on Sunday (talented man managed to catch a minor bug while quarantined), so while he holed up in our bedroom, I did a home church lesson about trusting in the Lord. We read the story of Moses parting the Red Sea in conjunction with the words of Limhi in the Book of Mormon. We talked about how remembering times when God helped us in the past can boost our faith that he will help us in the future. We sang five verses of Book of Mormon Stories and two verses of Nephi's Courage alongside my messy piano playing. Then I declared a 4/5 family walk. The kids and I journeyed west along the canal, which feels exciting because we have to cross our street to go that direction and the kids never go that way on their own. We threw lots of rocks into the water. My elbow actually felt kind of sore later from all of the throwing. Jay and Rose kept finding me flat rocks to try and skip, but I could not for the life of me coax a single skip out of any rock, no matter what I did.

Quarandetails

Another week of quarantine homey moments is done. Another month has ended. Washington's governor has extended our stay-at-home order until May 30th, so the current home status quo isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Since I've been pumping all of my creative energies into writing a book for the past month, I have not felt as focused on writing about the "quarandetails" of daily life right now. Instead of writing about real life, I have been doing my best to snap random pictures throughout the day so I remember what is going on outside of my fictional world. Usually this everyday photography feels more natural, but when my mind is lost in fiction, I have to make a conscious effort to wake up and take a picture here and there.

Moments

This week was made up of a bunch of disjointed everyday moments. I lack the mental power to link them with a spunky narrative, so I made a blog post photo album with captions of moments from the week:

Virtually

Sometimes it feels like we're living in a virtual reality. Virtual lessons, video calls, video messages, emails, text messages, phone calls, etc. all from home. After Easter, we decided to stop getting together with our local family in Grandview, in order to protect Jeff's parents. It just seemed more responsible, although I fear we may have ruffled some familial feathers with that decision. Now we have one exception to our immediate family quarantine: Jay's buddy/brother Ian from next door. Upping our quarantine game! These are strange times. I don't want to judge other people for the way they do or don't keep apart. We're just doing what currently feels right. It's not perfect and I'm trying hard not to worry too much if we're being rude or doing/not doing enough, etc.

Tent towards home

For our home church lesson today, we had the kids pitch our tent in the front yard. We handed them our ancient three man tent and told them to set it up. Jeff and I sat on the porch and watched them struggle, chuckling quietly and occasionally calling out hints. Why is it so fun to watch our kids struggle? We had a grand time watching their ten-pitching show. It took Jay the longest time to get the tent out of the bag. He fiercely refused Rose's assistance for that part, so the girls played on the rope swing until Jay finally got the tent out of the bag. Then Jay and Rose wrestled the springy poles into the correct position on the roof while Amber wielded the short rain-fly-pole like Ninja Warrior Wonder Woman in the background.

Another weekly album

Here are the everyday pictures from April 5-10, aka quarantine/stay-at-home week four. One of my personal quarantine activities has been to attempt writing a cute little novel. It's something I have always dreamed about doing, and now that my time at home alone with Amber has suddenly been cut short and is over forever, I decided I had no reason to wait. I am loving my first attempt at large-scale fictional story crafting! It's hard and absorbing and fun. Since a whole lot of my writing energy is being spent elsewhere, this is a bare bones photos-with-captions post. Even if these captions aren't eloquent memories, they are still memories I want to hang on to!

Spring is sprouting and I have been admiring it from all angles. If we have to stay in our little bubble, at least it's a beautiful bubble.

Easter at home

We had a low-key, calm Easter weekend, consistent with our usual style. Usually Jeff is gone at a track meet on the Saturday before Easter, so it was extra cozy having him home all weekend... and all week, every week for the foreseeable future! This pandemic is causing plenty of negative effects in the world, but that doesn't mean we can't appreciate the handful of positives to come out of it! I may feel invaded and maxed out by the constant in-yo-face presence and demands of our kids, but I don't feel that way with Jeff home. I love having him around all the time!

Since we're used to track season swallowing up our pre-Easter Saturday, we forgot to do the kids' egg hunt on Saturday. It was fine though, because we finished our 2 week post-Denver self-quarantine and took the kids to see their local cousins at Grampa Dan's Saturday morning pancake breakfast. The kids played and played, then the girls went home with the cousins for a couple of hours, after which they came to our house for more playing. Rose missed her cousin-bestie Layne!

Pandemic food and fasting

Ever since we got home from Denver two weeks ago, I have been putting off going to Costco. I have heard enough tales of long lines of people wrapping around the outside of the store waiting for admittance at an appropriate social distance, to make me wary. Costco is tiring under normal circumstances. The mere thought of adding any element to the experience served as a deterrent for two whole extra weeks. Then the CDC recommended that everyone wear a protective mask in public. What with the extra long lines and the extra smothering face-gear, this grocery trip was looking more and more difficult the longer I waited. But still I waited. We made do with Sunnyside's two main local choices for as long as possible: Walmart and Safeway. Walmart and Safeway are perfectly adequate, but I only resupply current week-to-week needs there. Costco is for large-scale restocking. By today, it had been at least six weeks since my last Costco run, and our pantry supplies had thinned out significantly. Plus, a nice fat Costco rewards check had come in the mail. It was time. Today was the day.

Quarantine Routine

We have been home from our Denver visit for a week. No school, no outings, just the grocery store, running, and home. This was week one for us in the quarantine/stay-at-home time. (It was week three for everyone else in our state.) As a stay at home parent living outside of town in the wide open country, my life has not changed as drastically with the quarantine as many others have. This would be exponentially harder if we lived crowded in a big city, or even in a neighborhood! But we have room to breathe in the country. It is a little unreal to have Jeff home full time right now, because usually springtime is his most absent season, since he's a track coach. It's awesome seeing my husband in April! I can still go running every day with zero social contact-- all week I only saw two other humans outside while I was running. And since Jeff is home, I get to go out of the yard to run. Adios, field loops! I don't take anyone to the grocery store with me anymore, but that is also a bonus because I prefer to grocery shop sans-children. I don't miss having appointments and obligations outside the home--those have never been my fave. And yet, staying home indefinitely is still proving to be tough. One of my favorite memes to come out of this situation says "And just like that, nobody will ever ask stay-at-home moms what they do all day ever again." Hello silly, snarky, blessed validation.

Reeves Road

Several weeks ago, my around-the-corner neighbor reported an intimidating new dog north on Reeves Road. From that moment on, I couldn't muster the courage to run on that section of Reeves, even though it made up the entire beautiful backstretch to my favorite loop. I tried and tried to find a new loop to fill the void of my beloved Reeves route, but none of my new loops were quite as scenic or conveniently adjustable as dear ole Reeves, which has perfectly placed intersections where I could choose to turn and shorten the loop, or continue straight and lengthen it. This multi-purpose adjustable rectangular route could be 4, 5, 6, or even 7 miles, depending on my mid-run mood and energy levels.