The fourth of July holiday has come and gone. We were able to barbeque on the 5th with one family, but otherwise, it was a pretty quiet fourth. Unfortunately, the isolation is really starting to take its toll on our eleven year old. She really misses her friends. We have, to date, let her play with 3 separate friends whose families have been rather strict. She really can’t wait for school to start which right now, looks like will be primarily half days in person and half days online. We are happy with this because she really needs the social part of school. We are nervous too though, as we suspect this is when Covid may finally hit a bit closer to home. But this will be August.
For July, we are preparing for my Mom’s 96th birthday. Mom lives in a retirement community of over 300 people. She has her own one bedroom apartment, but has been rather isolated since March. She is able to get her mail, and walk on the terraces in her community, but they have not been allowed to go out or have visitors. If they do, they immediately need to quarantine in home for 14 days. After her hair salon reopened after 3 months, it was the first thing she was off to do. When she returned she was reminded she had to go into quarantine in her apartment for two weeks. She has been sneaking out at night around 8:00 PM to exercise, i.e. walk around on the terraces. She finds no one is around then so figures she is safe. She still has the mask just in case.
My brother has been trying to help her get other meals from outside her community. The dinners are particularly problematic it seems. She had a burger recently from a favorite restaurant and was ecstatic. Another delivery from another establishment turned out to be very problematic. The situation has been very hit and miss. My brother and I are concerned because she has lost a lot of weight. Due to osteoporosis she has shrunk at least 3-4 inches from her original 5’6″ height. She now weighs 110 pounds which is probably 20-30 pounds less than what she should be.
This week I’m going to get a Covid test to try and ensure that I’m okay to see her for her 96th birthday that is coming up. I usually see her a few times a month but haven’t seen her since February. We have done online calls but I want to let her come visit us for her birthday. The plan is my brother will come up and stay with us in our home. He and I will then go get her so she can come over to our house and hang out. We will feed her some good food and just be with each other. The one thing this shelter in place has truly taught me is the value of family and friends. We have had to stay away from friends but now, I hope to spend some quality time with my Mom. We will drive her home after visiting so she can sleep in her own bed. I’m hoping this all goes well and she in turn stays well.
I’ll post here Wednesday after my test. I’m going into work for the last time tomorrow morning and then for the next few weeks will strictly be working from home. Fingers crossed this all goes well.