Since I'm covering 2.5 years anyway, it makes sense to separate it a bit into a general update and then a more personal update that touches on some of the painful lows. This will be the general update.
Towards the end of the last post, we had just moved into our new home. It was the end unit of a townhouse in Village Square, right above the EMU Seminary. The location was fabulous -- bordering the EMU hillside, with our screened-in porch looking out over the trees and the new disc golf course, a warm and diverse community of residents who enjoys gathering for socials, and an unbeatable commute to my office. Ellie and Katie were at an age where they were eager to learn how to do new things, and that's exactly what they did! Rock-climbing, wall-climbing, swimming, rollerskating, cartwheels, ice skating, scootering, and the huge achievement of learning to ride bikes without training wheels. For biking, we spent a back-breaking, anxiety-filled evening on the EMU lawn filled with crashes, discouragement, and frustration, which culminated in Ellie suddenly taking off on her own and then her determined little sister following suit 10 minutes later.
Ellie and Katie enjoyed their new abilities so much that they often carried over into other areas of life!
Spending time with friends was another one of their passions, although it feels odd to talk about socializing across the past two and a half years since we're just now slowly crawling out of the COVID cocoon of isolation. With occasional exceptions, these social encounters were a dependable source of enjoyment; the girls are old enough to appreciate both talking and playing but not quite old enough yet to have too much of the drama that awaits in many teenage friendships. That said, the times when there was drama had the silver lining of fueling new journaling habits and bonding heartfelt discussions.
Holding a special permanent place in the friend category was cousin Anna. For the first year or so of COVID, they were in a separate bubble from us given Bob and I's work with different populations. But even during that time, we had masked play and they were the first family (along with my parents) to reunite this Spring once we were vaccinated and started dancing that awkward dance back into normal socializing.
During these rough COVID times, our family was blessed in so many ways that I often felt guilty. We had easy access to nature, a relatively secure income (with a few rough spots and uncertainties along the way), my parents and sister's family going far out of their way to help whenever we needed it, and the biggest one of all -- a family that cherished (for the most part) being confined together. Jooyeon dug into deep pools of resilience, Ellie constantly spread compassion, and Katie brought us an endless source of laughter.
With so much uncertainty around us, we eventually realized the value in establishing family rituals. During my twenties, I used to have some kind of disdain for many rituals, equating them with stagnancy. But somewhere along the way, I began to see how important it was to have regular things to look forward to, and the dependability more than made up for the lack of spontaneity (or better yet, complemented the spontaneity in other areas of our lives). Our first ritual was movie night Fridays. We had bought a refurbished projector 10 years ago in Athens; after dusting it off, we were delighted to see that it still worked! We would bring our Friday supper down into my bedroom, watch shows like Great British Bakeoff or Mary Poppins, and then finish things off with a mystery snack (I stocked up so I always had a couple hidden somewhere). With that being successful, we added on Saturday as "Sleep with Daddy" night (also a big hit), and then "Karaoke and Ice Cream Wednesdays" (lots of fun although Katie eventually confessed that she doesn't even like ice cream).
The girls bought into the traditions more than I expected and were adamant about making them up on the rare occasions where we had to miss one for some reason. I think the stability of the schedule helped counter some of the overall anxiety. A friend of mine suggested that we each create anxiety creatures to give it a physical manifestation that we could then talk about. Here is what we came up with (Ellie's, Katie's, and mine below):
In addition to learning all kinds of physical activity skills, the girls began learning an instrument. Katie chose piano and Ellie chose violin. They both continue to practice their instrument a year later, although Katie decided to do it independently rather than through lessons after a couple months. Here's a picture of Ellie's first recital:
When the girls weren't doing something athletic or musical, they spent their COVID confinement playing outside and doing all sorts of puzzles, Legos, crafts, art, and inventions inside. (Okay, yes, and the iPad but we parents often try to downplay that part. :))
We also took a good amount of little family outings, ranging from the EMU campfire pits to a couple quick beach trips.
And, of course, enjoyed good food. Jooyeon may have switched her major to accounting, but I'll always appreciate the year she spent studying culinary arts! (Side note: The bacon and bagels aren't the epitome of her cooking, but that's just what I had pictures of.)
Speaking of food, it was a bit hard for the girls to eat sometimes with all their lost teeth! The upside was the tooth fairy. Writing bedtime notes to her evolved into a mystery box where the girls could write a note to anyone they wanted, real or fiction, and they would often get a response the next morning. Letter recipients included Ramona Quimby, contestants on the Great British Baking Show, America's Got Talent contestants, Great Grandma (who passed away a couple years ago), and Ruth Bader Ginsberg.
This is totally out of order (pre-COVID), but we enjoyed watching some musicals and attending Ellie's art award ceremonies (she won 3 contests during the past couple years); Katie won one as well for her creativity.
Two years ago, we bought a plot of land near my parents' house. It was a very slow, incremental process, but we eventually came up with a design for our new home. We must have had at least 15 separate conversations with friends, contractors, and architects, and each time, our design slowly evolved until it ended up with something we were quite happy with. Thankfully, we had a couple good builders to choose from (from what I hear, a less-than-good builder can change the stressful process into an absolute nightmare), and we settled on Eric Beck who was actually from the same hometown as me. We hit some snags along the way, but things eventually worked out, and we ended up in a position we never thought we'd be in; owners of a home we had designed! This would have been my childhood dream, although I greatly reduced the number of secret passageways. Our move took place more suddenly than we had expected, but we were blessed with about 10 people responding to a last-minute text. It was a touching day.
Teaching during COVID was challenging at times, but the students were gracious in handling the flaws and understanding the circumstances. The biggest issue (at least for my students and me) didn't seem to be the pedagogy itself, but rather all the additional emotional strains of sickness, anxiety, political tensions, and social situations. (The first picture was pre-COVID.) Owen and I both received an incredibly artistic portrait from a mystery person -- we still have no idea who drew them, but I use mine for my Zoom image since the likeness is so strong.
Thanks to a nomination by Owen (our Dept. Chair), I had the honor of receiving a teaching award from the Mathematical Association of America. I feel so grateful to have a job that enjoy doing; even during COVID, it was still a treat to go into work each day. And things got even better when EMU made the wise decision to hire a former member of our Youth Group from decades ago. Go, Susannah!
By far, the best part of COVID was all the time we had to bond as a family. Jooyeon and I's relationship got even stronger, and Katie and Ellie became closer as sisters.
