Thankful Thursday

Hi, all! We're now under stay at home orders here in Colorado. (I could have this wrong but I think the entire state has orders until April 10, and our county has orders until April 17.) We've been basically doing all of that for a week and a half-ish already anyhow, so no big changes. :) And, since it's Thursday, here are some things I'm thankful for today...

1. Sidewalk chalk. It was too beautiful on Tuesday to stay inside, so I broke out some sidewalk chalk. I remember fondly the days when all the kids in our cul de saq were younger and outside and playing together. They're mostly all grown now but I enjoyed the sidewalk chalk for them:

I made the hopscotch for anyone who might be out walking and was just randomly doodling in the driveway. Made all the boys come see my artwork and Micah had me add his poem. :)

2. The timing of our Europe trip. As I read the news and see the empty tourist spots around the world, I'm ever so thankful that we went on our Europe trip when we did...before Notre Dame burned or Venice flooded...before all of this. :(

3. The ability to workout outside. Even under the current stay at home orders, we're still able to exercise outside...so long as we continue to maintain social distancing and all. Yesterday's boot camp workout was an outdoor workout, so I met up with Lynne (we both walked/jogged the half mile or so to meet in the middle) and we completed it together...but at least 6 feet apart. ;)  

4. The boys' schools. Both CSU and CEC have done an excellent job of helping families transition to this distance learning situation. I've been very appreciative of the communication and care. I see other schools around the nation working to figure this all out and am thankful that all of my boys' schools have managed to make the transition as seamless as possible. Yes, some labs are disrupted and can't really been fixed and other things have definitely been complicated. But, classes themselves are all moving forward without any delays so that the semesters will end as scheduled. This morning, Asher and I completed his advising appointment for fall classes via Microsoft Teams...easy peasy.

5. My siblings. Even though the topics haven't all been lovely, it's been nice texting with all my siblings more often lately...sharing information and checking in on each other. (My brother, Joe, by the way, turned out to be negative for COVID19, and he and the four kids who also got sick are all better now.) And I'm ever so grateful that three of them live in Washington and can help my mom and gram. As I type, my sister is picking up my gram (who's recovering nicely from her hip replacement!) and taking her to stay with my brother and his family. (Also, thankful that Bekah lives nearby and can check in on mom so she's not alone!) They wanted to transfer gram to another nursing facility nearby, as she still needs more physical therapy and supervision than she could get at home. But after some back and forth conversations and googling of the facility (not impressed and worried about potential COVID19 exposure since a partner facility has positive cases and they might share staff), and Joe's family's generous offer to take gram, themselves, they managed to make the switch. Joe can provide the physical therapy and his family provides the supervision. Whew. Truly, so, so thankful.

(Thought I'd add a picture. This is my sibs, gram, mom and me back in November 2007.) 

And those are some of the things I'm thankful for today. How about you?