Ron and I are blessed to be stuck here on our High Mesa with it's million dollar view, warm swimming pool, no traffic, not many houses around, and the Wayne B. Collins Memorial citrus grove producing lots of Vitamin C. We now have triple digit hot days forecast, and under normal circumstances we'd be thinking about heading to our cowboy cabin in Jackson Hole, but we won't go because we'd leave two daughters and two grandsons behind, and we wouldn't have the wonderful support we have here in the desert.
And . . . alas, our middle daughter Marja Walker is really sick with the classic symptoms of the corona virus. She is so miserable and I feel so helpless and unable to comfort her. She has been tested twice and both came back negative. Yet she still has all the symptoms, although they may be getting a wee tiny bit better each day. With apologies to my pal Don Rumsfeld, there sure are a lot of unknown unknowns! Please remember Marja in your prayers.
Daughter Lisa, after seeing her dream job as an aesthetician at beautiful Miraval Spa disappear, her college student, Hugh and high school junior, Jake under foot full time and mad as hornets about it, she got herself hired as a Walmart Associate, filling the grocery orders of others to put food on her own table. She's owns the title role of this blog. Right after college she worked in the Reagan Advance office, the only one of her college pals to have a job after graduation. Now she's keeping three houses stocked and walking over 18,000 steps every day. Her wonderful attitude peeks out when she tells people that Walmart is paying her to exercise.
Luckily Marja and Lisa live here in Oro Valley within easy walking distance of each other. We all have coolers outside for drop offs that now have replaced the always wonderful and welcome drop ins of yesterday. Air kisses, hands over hearts, and shouts of "Love ya" have replaced wonderful hugs and sitting comfortably together to chat.
Daughter Lynne and the best son-in-law possible, Barry, live in Lexington, Kentucky. Way too far away to have a cooler outside waiting for necessities to appear. Lynne, as president of the International Spa Association abruptly shut its doors, cut staff, and now spends her time talking members, friends and strangers off the telephone poles while working remotely via Zoom. Barry, with a huge inner-city, developing historic district as his office, still checks it out early every morning because his tenants have all closed their businesses and the not-working do nothings of the area watch for their chance to steal and vandalize. Since Barry always carefully researches all things he wants to do, when he comes back home he enters the breeze-way, strips naked, and streaks through the house and up the stairs headed to the shower. Sometimes he flies past Lynne's Zoom call with-in camera range. Luckily he's a fast runner.
As for myself, I never seem to have the time to feel bored. My book club and bible study quickly adapted to ZOOM. We have regular family ZOOM cocktail parties. Among my other things to do, I have been making masks. I deliver them to the precious, peaceful prayer garden at our church at first light in the morning. Church members, hikers, and many others stop by to say a prayer and find a moment of quiet peace. As word got out, folks have been stopping by to pick up a mask to keep them safe. That makes me so happy. It might be corny, but I like to think that each one is AnneOriginal and each stitch is full of prayers to keep the wearer safe.
I also, happily, accept catering requests. Today it's Marja's request for some chicken salad. Soon someone will stop by to pick it up for the Hart House and Marja's front door cooler. I put several dozen healing hugs in the cooler too.
Stay safe everybody. Hope it is over soon!
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