Getting Older, Father's Day and 100 Days in Quarantine

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I normally have a more focused point in blog post entries, but sometimes life is messy.  Sometimes, three events co-exist at the same time.  Sometimes, this cannot be avoided.

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100 Days in Quarantine:

Tara and I have been quarantining at home since March 14th.

Honestly, it's not much different than the average for me.  (Other than the fact that now, I am not being told that "There's life outside the four walls of my apartment!" and "I need to get out more!" as if life inside a place that's actually accessible is somehow less of a life...)  Now that nondisabled people are in the same boat (or were, until recently, what with stay-at-home orders) perhaps they see that life within their home is just as valid as life outside it.

(And more...because by staying in...we are staying alive.)

The main difference is that Tara gets to be home with me, which is amazing.  (Yes, we're in a pandemic and we are high risk and we have C-PTSD, which means we are extra stressed at times.  But I would much rather be stressed at home with Tara, than deal with the stress of her being at her customer service job.

To that end, it's meant changes.  Some small, like the note on our door, advising the mail carriers to leave packages and we will intercept them ASAP.  Like quarantining packages before opening them.  Like wearing masks to do laundry.  Like baking our own bread, and indulging by purchasing tortillas (the closest thing to actual grocery store bread we can find without going to the store) as a treat.  And some are much bigger, life changes.

So, those are happening.  And they're scary.  And they're necessary.  And we're coping.

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Father's Day:

Maybe you remember Mother's Day is Not For Everyone...and That's Okay.  Maybe you can guess, based on that, that I'm not a super fan of Father's Day, either.

Surprise.  I'm not.

In many ways, Father's Day is harder to deal with than Mother's Day is.  We were born on Father's Day.  It's inextricably tied to us.  And we must, and do, somehow deal with that reality.

So, don't be surprised if I don't share that Father's Day playlist, or participate in that Father's Day hashtag.  Don't be surprised if I hate the fact that there are things called Father's Day Forecasts...

I'll be over here, laying low to avoid the influx of Father's Day posts on social media.  

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Getting Older:

Luckily, there's someone else I can celebrate today. 

My sister.

She's my favorite person.  The person I like, and love, and tell regularly, "I'm so happy I get to live with you."  (Lately, this has evolved into: "Thank you for being my quarantine buddy.")

We read aloud to friends via our Marco Polo app. 

We watch Criminal Minds for relief - to think - "Hey!  Life isn't bad!  At least there's not a serial killer after us!"  We watch Grey's Anatomy two-parters for "nostalgia" and obsess endlessly about how amazing it is that Jordan Fisher was / is in Dear Evan Hansen (special interest, anyone?) 

And we freaking love candles.

[Image: Tara, left, and Tonia, right, smelling our new Cider Mill candle.]

No one who's had a birthday in the last few months has expected to celebrate in the midst of a pandemic...

There's a ton of uncertainty these days...

But there's also joy.

Happy birthday to us.

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