Christmas 2020

 

This has been an “interesting” year, to say the least.The topic that has been on everyone’s lips throughout the year has gone by many names. Some of those have included: Wuhan Virus, Chinese Virus, Kung Flu, Novel Coronavirus, “Livin’ Covida Loca”, Covid Chaos, or COVID-19.

For the rest of this newsletter, we will be referring to it as simply “The Covid”.

During Winter break in February, H&M flew to Phoenix, AZ. We stayed at Jacob’s in-laws’ home and over the 5 days we were there, they gave us a grand tour of the area.  It was in the mid-70s the entire time and we had a lovely stay.  There is nothing like picking a fresh grapefruit each morning!  On the flight home, Megan began to feel feverish and achy. This was when “The Covid” was just starting to be in everyone’s consciousness.  It all went downhill from there.  Megan spent the next 2½ weeks in bed and missed 12 days of school. She dragged herself back to school on a Wednesday and the next day was the last day of school as we used to know it. Never thought that school would still be closed as we speak!!  By the way, Megan had her antibodies tested later and it wasn’t “The Covid”.

Key Arena (Seattle Colosseum)

March 6^th was the 50^th anniversary of H&M’s first date. Megan was still not up to doing anything too fun.  But we decided to re-enact our first date as best we could.  Fifty years ago, Harold had asked Megan to go with him to a Sonics basketball game at the Seattle Center Arena. So, we drove to Seattle Center and parked.  Megan leaned on Harold as he held her up / dragged her along.  The Arena was in the middle of a major remodel and was fenced off.  So we couldn’t go inside.  But we were able to ask a very nice stranger to take some pictures of us in front of it. (Don’t look at the pictures too closely and remember – I was SICK!  We went into the food court and, except for a few employees, we were the only people there!  It was our first recognition/realization of what the “new normal” was going to look like because of “The Covid”.

Deserted Food Court (formerly Food Circus)

Love American Style with popcorn

O

Baskin Robbins (formerly Broncos)

ur next re-creation was a drive back to Renton to the site of Broncos, a 1970 burger joint.  Broncos is long gone so we visited the site now occupied by Baskin Robbins.

3rd Avenue, Renton Washington ghost town

  We were unable to watch "Love American Style" and eat popcorn in my parent's basement, so we went home, found that show on YouTube and enjoyed some popcorn.  A very fun evening regardless of  “The Covid”.                                                 

For about six weeks in April & May, Harold delivered packages for Amazon Flex. He enjoyed the driving around and it kept him busy - because people were doing a lot more shopping online due to

Amazon Flex

“The Covid”.

May 4^th – Online “school” began. All classes were taught using MS Teams. High School Seniors lost out on many rites of passage and graduation was delayed due to “The Covid”.

Kentridge Graduation 2020

Kentridge Graduation 2020

Kentridge High School had their first ever, outdoor, social-distanced graduation “ceremony” delayed until July 11^th.  H&M volunteered to help out. The graduates stayed in their cars with their families. Many of them had decorated their cars with pictures, streamers and balloons. They wore their caps and gowns. There was a route that they drove through the campus. At one point, one graduate at a time would get out of the car and go over to an outdoor stage where they would walk up a ramp and receive their diploma, let their families cheer and take pictures, and then walk back down and get back in their cars and drive away. It was definitely a very different celebration, but one that they/we will never forget, all due to “The Covid”.

No STP  – Seattle to Portland – bike ride this year.  My annual 206-mile bicycle odyssey from the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington to the Lloyd Center in Portland, Oregon was cancelled due to “The Covid”.  

Bummer.  I hoped to ride by myself but there was insufficient time prior to our road trip.  I look forward to my 27th STP in 2021.

In October 2019, Megan turned 66. In honor of this milestone, Harold promised her a trip on Route 66.  Their epic adventure began on July 21^st.  We flew to Chicago and rented a car. We stopped long enough to sample some famous Chicago pizza and then immediately drove into downtown Chicago to find the “Beginning of Route 66” sign. One thing we noticed was how little traffic there was … everywhere.  It looked like a ghost town due to “The Covid”.

We took three side trips during our sojourn.  The first was to Nauvoo, Illinois to see Church history sites (including Zelph's Mound) and the Mark Twain Caves in Hannibal, Missouri.  The second was to Kansas City/Independence, Missouri to see additional Church sites and our friends, the Sitlers.  Our final trip was to Branson, Missouri to see several shows.  Other highlights were Cahokia Mounds in Illinois; Meteor Crater in Arizona; "Standin' on the Corner" in Winslow, Arizona; Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico, and the Blue Whale in Catoosa, Oklahoma.

Also " we visited 16 Costcos during our Route 66 jouney. This brings our grand total of Costco visits to over 50!  Whoopee!

The mileage from Chicago to Gilbert according to Google is 1,738 miles.  We traveled 4,164 miles!

Watch our 19-day Route 66 adventure!

This wonderful travel video was created by our son, Benjamin.

Perhaps in 2021, we will finish the final 421 mile section in green above.

After many, long summer hours of online-training on several different computer programs (MS Teams, Canvas, Actively Learn, Skyward), school “started” for Megan on September 3^rd, completely remote … due to “The Covid”.

September brought with it forest and brush fires in southern Canada, Eastern Washington, Idaho, Oregon and California. The winds brought much of the smoke to Seattle creating more reasons to be ordered to stay inside…in addition to “The Covid”.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, without … “The Covid”!

 

 

When Jesus Christ was born, angels proclaimed, “On earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14).

This December, the promise remains the same. As we love and serve each day the way Jesus did, we can end 2020 on a hopeful note.

Please note ... these camels have been thoroughly

educated in the art of social distancing.