We have some neighbors ready to head out to travel, near and far-ish (making it difficult to plan our next Book Club). They’ve been vaccinated, they’re DONE with this crap, and they’re outa here. Leaving the gray, wet, dreary Pacific Northwest to…places. I can’t blame them!
Where would we go if we had that choice? I’m not sure! To see the kids, for sure, even though that’s not actual “travel.” That will always be the priority. Makes my heart clench that Nate will be leaving on his ship in mid-March for a 4-6 week “underway.” I believe it will be the first time that Sandra and Quinn will have to deal with him being gone for a stretch of time (since Quinn was born). Throughout their time in San Diego, they were both on Shore Duty and had a relatively “normal” life that Quinn was born into the midst of. I think that in typical circumstances, since Nate is now back to ship-active after moving to Everett, he would have been doing “underways” fairly regularly, but because of Covid, that has been stunted. Until now. We knew this was coming. But. Ugh. And yes, eventually a major 9+month deployment will happen. I’m pretty much in denial about that. Because. Ugh.
But back to traveling—when/if the time comes that we’re back to NORMAL, I could see us taking a road trip. Down the coast? We couldn’t be gone too long because of the cats (4-5 days max), which would be conducive to a coastal trip. Swing over and visit Helen in Oregon. It’s something to look forward to, because we do need things to look forward to. However, mostly I look forward to people being able (and feeling comfortable) to visiting US, because it really is pretty damned cool here.
Sigh.
I did a little investigating with the counties here in Washington to see what their “wording” was about the “Phase 1b Multi-generational” thing for getting Covid vaccinations. I only picked a few counties to check, but it looks like only OUR county specified the wording as it was: “All people 65 years or older and those 50-64 in a multigenerational household (meaning someone 50-64 years lives with a person 65 or over).” I did not see that wording anywhere else. (The intent in other counties was people in middle-age having an elderly parent living with them and under their care). John said, “We should have Margaret come and spend a few days with us so she can claim she’s living in a multigenerational household!” I almost dropped to my knees laughing. (The thing is, you do have to actually LIVE in the county). But jeeze. I do think we’re on the cusp of time when the restrictions of those “eligible” to be vaccinated will become wide-open, especially since the J&J vaccine is now becoming available. I’ve been feeling optimistic about things, seeing the numbers of cases/hospitalizations/deaths significantly dropping. Watching it all carefully, I’ve been so hopeful that the vaccinations were already making a big difference, that we were on the downslide of this nightmare. And then, whoa. Looks like the ferociousness of the decline is suddenly braking. (Please no!) I do think that people are feeling they don’t need to wear masks, social-distance, et al and that may be contributing to this. But also…the variants. Stronger versions of the virus are taking hold. (Please no). I’m not sure what exactly to think, except there are a lot of people in states, and parts of states, that are being assholes and not helping. (Have I mentioned lately how disgusted I am with humankind?)
Holy cow, it was 20 years ago since our huge Nisqually Earthquake! I remember exactly where I was when it hit, working at an engineering firm on the waterfront in Tacoma. (I was on the toilet. Yep.) Because there was a very active train track nearby, I thought at first that’s what I was hearing/feeling. And then I suddenly realized it was much more than that. Power went out. Pitch dark. Finding my way out of that bathroom was weird, and when I entered the hallway I could see the “EXIT” signs still swinging. I don’t recall much after that, except worrying about getting home. And home was a mess (but thankfully not a wreck). 6.8 it was, and books, and CDs were EVERYWHERE. My china cabinet was wide open and several very special pieces of crystal and china were dangling halfway out…but that’s it. I felt SO LUCKY. Pictures were wildly askew but hadn’t fallen from the walls. There was a lot of damage everywhere and I can’t believe how we escaped all of that. The worst thing that was destroyed in our house (in my view) was a large stained glass project I’d done of a kingfisher, that actually turned out quite well and was a HELLUVA lot of work to make. It was painful. It still is, 20 years later.
Feels like very long ago and just yesterday.