TeamReedBlog.2020

Nearly 30 million Americans have been tracked as COVID-19 positive. More than 500K Americans have died from the virus. So it shouldn't surprise anyone that COVID came to Castle Row. We were careful, but we still got it. If I was a betting person, I'd bet it was round two for us. Jeff came down with a bad cold in February 2020, and it was starting to hit me when Alison's Spring Break was about to start. We were in the heading to Lafayette, and I must have looked even worse than I felt because he pulled a classic Dad Move, turned the car around and banished me to the basement where I stayed for a couple of weeks. The isolation worked. Ali didn't get sick, and I emerged from my round of that bad cold after a couple grumpy weeks. This year, the symptoms and recovery time for me were just about identical. Maybe longer and harsher. The Captain, who again fell ill before me, had more of the headaches, digestive issues and fever symptoms.  We were both fatigued and slept a lot,...

This is the first year I remember where both the Captain and I have been too sick to properly celebrate our wedding anniversary/Valentine's Day. It's year 23 for those of you keeping track, and no, we don't think it's COVID. Just bad colds kind of like the ones that struck in early 2020. Bad enough that Jeff slept most of the week away downstairs in quarantine. He got sick first and insisted I wear a mask every time I checked on him. I forgot on occasion but didn't think there was a way I was going to escape it either. It didn't really hit me until Thursday and I've been in pajamas ever since. I was about ready to feel sorry for myself when I remembered that so many people in my life are facing much more difficulties. I'm pretty sure we will be back in the swing of things soon. (And, no, we don't need anything, but thanks for the thought.)  Instead, please say a prayer or send a good vibe to my friend Anna and her boyfriend Ryan, who is battling leuk...

  The Captain tells a story about his first day in law school that I assume most lawyers tell: He's in his first class and the professor tells the assembly to take a look to their left and then their right. Jeff was still in a little bit of culture shock as this was his first time in Indiana, and he knew no one. His parents had driven him from Maine and were still reeling from their first corn dog and the flat vista.  But back to the class. "Only one of the three of you will make it to graduation," the prof intones to the would-be attorneys.  Jeff was sitting between two Hoosiers, John Christ and Eric Yocum, who he had yet to really meet. Jeff looked at one and then the other.  "I'll be OK," he though. The three would become blood brothers; attorneys minted in the same year and successful in their separate practices. I don't know what John or Eric thought about their perusal of the people around them, and I would love to share photos of them at the time ...

 The other day, Jeff and I were trying to get our steps - a terrible/great habit that sprang initially from our insurance provider who, if we both "got our steps" for a certain number of days of the year, would give us cash or prizes or something. Our insurance provider has since changed the program and we're no longer rewarded financially for our steps. So, even though he's often trudging along beside me, Jeff is less happy to get his steps as it's only a physical reward. He would rather ( I think) we jogged or ran because he thinks that's a better physical payoff if we have to be out I, however, believe the only time you really need to run is when something dangerous is chasing you. Plus, it hurts my knees.  So anyway, we had trotted out at the end of the day because I needed some steps. It was snowing, so it was kind of cold, but there was no wind. Darkness was falling as softly as the snow, so it was kind of romantic, if you want to know the truth. I didn...

 It all started when Auntie Mary's Christmas package arrived. Ali was trying on her new sweater-like slippers, Jeff was talking about how pretty Amaryllis bulbs would be when they bloomed, and I was examining the chocolate treat that came along with the other items. "Looks like some kind of bark," Jeff remarked. I bit in. "Hmm. It tastes kind of whang-y," I remarked. Jeff and Ali looked at each other and one of them said, "What did you say?"  "It has a kind of whang to it," I repeated.  At that point, my two housemates set off into a fit of snorts and giggles such that they lost their breath and fell over each other laughing at me. As is his wont, the Captain crossed the line a few times as the pair of them reminded me that "wang" is a euphemism for "penis" and Alison was 100 percent sure that Auntie Mary's cookie ingredients would never involve that particular ingredient. My efforts to define the word as an odd or une...

Alison has never had Christmas in her own home, and we like it that way. But like most everyone else, COVID has put a cramp in our stockings. Actually, it's forced us to use our Christmas stockings for the very first time. Because we have spent Christmas in Maine since 1996 - and Santa knows where to find us - they've been for decorative use only. For three years, there were just two stockings, which explains why the third one doesn't match. (Yes, I looked.) COVID did not, however, rob us of Cookie Day with Auntie Jen. We think Ali was three-years-old when we started, and that photo of Grammie and Ali is cheating just a bit. It was the same year, but not yet Christmas. That was the summer Grandpa took Ali fishing. She didn't catch any fish, but she got to pee in the wood on a rock, so it was still a good adventure.  Grammie couldn't hide her horror when Ali plunked her cookie cutter into the middle of the rolled-out dough rather than carefully positioning them all t...

 Alison came home Tuesday before Thanksgiving, and her boyfriend Jason came along. We had a great few days full of good food -- crab legs, steak and King Rib ribs and some truly decadent mac-n-cheese -- and lots of couch time for the kids. They lit up the outside of the house for me, too.  All too soon, though, Ali drove Jason back to campus in West Lafayette because, "There's no way I can study if he's downstairs." They had a week of classes before finals week starts tomorrow. Most of the students went home and stayed there. Jason lives in California, and won't fly home until after his last test. Alison might as well have gone back with him as we have seen very little of her in the past week. She's holed herself up in the downstairs bedroom with her laptop, a whiteboard and assorted food items. She emerges periodically -- mostly for more food. She has asked Jeff and me -- separately -- to study with her on occasion, which is humbling. I did flash cards with h...