School starts for my kids in 1 day 10 hours 3 minutes and 2 seconds.

And you better believe they going to school. I’m THAT mom.

And you better believe they’ll be AMI (virtual school) by the end of September, not by my choice. Bet.

I see and acknowledge every SINGLE point of view of going back to school.

The teachers, bless them.

The administers, bless them.

The government, bless them.

The parents, bless them.

The STUDENTS, bless them.

The virtual learning parents, I see you too.

The people making masks, you guys are making some serious dough right now. Ride this wave as long as possible!!

If I could sew. Son of a bitch.

So as a parent, I am in a weird spot. I’m ready to get my kids back in school. Why? Because, I don’t know anything. I’m a dumbass when it comes to education. For real. Learning disabilities I finally got tested for my last year (of 5 1/2 years of failing multiple classes) of College. Josh and I will re-read the results every few years as he is giving me the side eye and I’m like how did I survive?!?

I will let everyone know while I’m on my death bed my ACT score.

So basically, with school starting back there are so many people that are super for it and many people that let it be known they are super against it.

Here’s the deal, we aren’t stupid. We know the risks of keeping our offspring home and the risks of having our offspring in school.

And here is a trigger warning, you might want to stop reading at this point….

For real…

Ok, don’t make me say I told you so.

My kids have played almost EVERY SINGLE DAY with the same kids outside, (12 kids+) inside, up trees, down trees, mud, races in the grass, etc etc. And some other kids on the other side of the hood because a neighbor keeps calling the cops on them. Kids. Playing. Outside.

Before you go throwing your phone or computer, yes, masks are worn whenever any of them absolutely have to go with my husband or I to the store or check up.

But I just don’t know how to break it to some….you do realize kids and adults will still get strep throat, flu, stomach bugs, snotty noses, stuffy noses, Covid, broken bones (March-ish for us this year)

You do realize that a lot of my friends are essential workers, so back that comment train up before you start blasting me about germs, life altering fatalities that are going on as we speak. And I worry about them everyday.

You do realize there a lot of diagnoses and deaths occurring while we are in this Covid bubble.

I have friends battling cancer as I type this, not related to Covid.

I have friends making life changing decisions unrelated to Covid.

Car accidents, depression, suicide, loneliness, kids being little dicks and the list goes on and on.

I have friends still living their best lives unrelated to Covid.

I, myself, am just a dumpster fire of mixed emotions and struggles every other day unrelated and related to Covid.

Hells yes, I still have a good time with people I’ve been around the most this longest summer ever.

Yes, I have more masks and hand sanitizers than I ever imagined I’d care for.

However, I’m more convinced of the importance of Herd Immunity.

Like at the beginning of this whole thing, our little community was like “if one of us gets it, we all get it.” We aren’t keeping these kids inside.

So yeah, We might get it. We might not.

Do I feel that the numbers of cases and deaths are NOT correct, YES. 100% YES. Duh, it exists, but the system in which the numbers are reported is jacked up and gives a false sense of fear. And a narrative that is overblown to the point people stop watching or listening.

Fear is my life. It’s always been a part of my life. My mind is like one false move and I am in anxiety city hoping a train to panic attack city. But I’m also, on a good super day, one of the most “practical” people you’ll ever meet. Like F this, let’s go live our lives and do something fun. See some friends, have a few drinks, talk shit, vent, etc.

Do I have many friends that have compromised immune systems that it’s life or severely ill/death situation going on, absolutely. And do I keep my distance, Hells yeah.

Some absolutely will beg to argue about this subject because I don’t see the world through their intelligent, doctorate in “I know everything and I want to prove you wrong degree” (beyond my understanding) eyes and they don’t see the world through my, common sense approach of prepping 2 week before y’all ran for the stores, keeping my head on straight and not losing it more than I want to admit, trying to keep both feet on the ground, through my blue super confused and scared eyes.

I’ve done my best to educate my kids enough so that they are not as fearful of the unknown, as I am? Hell to do the yes.

Do I think Covid is going away, nope.

Do I think it’s going to be similar (I know it’s not similar) to allllllll of the other illnesses that adults/old dudes/teenagers/kids get, especially during the fall and winter months and some pass away and many survive every year, yep.

Do I believe that people will die, yep.

Because people die everyday.

People survive everyday, too.

I have told Josh many times if I get Covid and die to not let friends/acquaintances know, because their unsolicited judgement was present long before and that is a shame.

It’s not like we are out looking for someone with Covid or the flu or the stomach bug or H1N1 or swine flu to come and cough in my face or get their sickly germs all up in my personal space and share them.

Jesus.

So, with that, listen to your friends, co workers, etc that are struggling with all of this. And the different viewpoints and concerns. LISTEN. The word LISTEN also means I did not at any point ask for your opinion/solution.

By the way, I’m terrible at this. I’m a fixer and a do-er. So if you come at me, ya got to tell me to not try to fix the situation.

Let’s move on to unrelated good times this summer:

We went on a Beach Vacay in June, as a fam. It was great. I didn’t want to leave. It was like Summer 2019 down south. I was trying to figure out how we could stay till school started back. Because it was a huge buzzkill se on the drive home.

My neighbors and I bought 99.8% of all the brands of hard seltzer’s on the market.

Coming in at #1 Mighty Swell #2 Truly (black can) #3 Izzy’s #4 Whatever is left over in the refrigerator around 4-6pm on any given day.

Our summer also included many projects I made up as we went on the house. Painted the outside brick, pulled out all of the bushes. Turned a flowerbed into a front porch. Re-did the other flowerbeds (or bushbeds) More sod for the lawn. Super OCD on the lawn. Now it’s been played on by the kids multiple times a day with the softest grass. And that’s what it is all about.

We went to OrthoArkansas 3 times.

Andrew broke his wrist after a gnarly fall on a toy scooter thing he was too big to ride on, during our 1 day cul de sac summer Olympics. This same stunt has happened at least a bazillion times. By everyone else, including me. It was bound to happen. One wrong clip on the sidewalk and it’s over. Builds character and helps them find something else to tryout.

I went to Ortho because my of hands. We did so much work on the house in such a short amount of time, just Josh and I, that my hands still have yet to recover. My fingers like to bend and hold that position until I pop it back. Overworked tendons. Doc offered steroid shots, I was like, “Yeah, that’s going to be a hard pass. Do you have like a finger brace or something?” Yep, they do. Already lost it. Taping fingers at night like I’m getting ready for a basketball game, playing injured.

Am I still outside everyday doing something with my hands? Of course. Do I bitch about it every night to Josh? Yeppers.

Something about working with my hands and seeing immediate results. I was born this way. The intelligence has never been there, but I realize my gift I can use is my hands to make something out of nothing…most of the time, when I’m not being micromanaged and nobody can see that I screwed something up and am trying to fix it before anyone knows.

Also, I had an ER visit. Apparently I’m allergic to scrubbing bubbles citrus scent. Dude, I thought I was a goner. Bring all the saints. Bring all the faiths. It’s going to be a team effort to get me into Heaven.

I started Twitching, onset fear, trembling, laying down on the floor as josh finished a game of League of Legends.

Bunch of Benadryl, anxiety medication and still pretty confident I was going to die, [imagine having panic attack with an allergic reaction thrown into the mix]

A quick drive to the ER, long wait in the waiting room and steroid shot. Super not cool with the steroid shot on my ass or hip area. Hurts like a mother fucker and I pass out. Soooooo doc was like I can do half in one arm and half in another. Sweet. Still hurt like a mother fucker, I couldn’t move my arms for a solid amount of time, then it went away.

Have I ever told you how much shots and I don’t mix? It’s dramatic, it’s awful, I’ve fainted before . It’s pathetic. I know.

And I was sure I got Covid at the ER. (Thankfully I didn’t) some dude (not sure if he was a patient or liked to hang out in waiting rooms) took the time to write me an odd, but nice long letter in the ER waiting room)

Can’t make this stuff up.

Then I had a reaction a couple of days later after taking a shower, because the cleaner was apparently still hanging out on the surfaces of the shower, I was like fuuuuuuck me, here we go again. More Benadryl and steroids.

I had Josh clean the shower throughly with glass cleaner. No reaction since.

Well, as you have read through this overdue blog, life is never boring. Yeah, it gets dull sometimes, but I or the universe always likes to shake things up a bit.

So onward, my friends and fellow not get alongers. We are handed just enough mana to handle each day we are given. Remember this as are already thinking about the school year to come.

Text the ones you can’t be with during this uncertain time.

Text the ones you don’t agree with.

Text the ones that want to meet outside for a beverage and vent.

Snapchat the ones you really need to vent to. 😉

Love, Grace, Peace and Laughter, my friends.

P.S. Remember your priorities. Scroll through Tik Tok for hours.