Letter to my son

 Dear Son,

2020 is the year that just keeps giving, not in a good way.  Normally we don't have hurricanes in October.  This will be another year mommy will remember her birthday - when Cat 3, Hurricane Zeta arrived.  That morning, Mommy went for a walk with Oma.  We commented on how windy it was and how the birds were cawing and flying crazy.  Sure it was cloudy, but it seemed like it was a pleasant day.  Other than the birds' behavior, how would people know without modern technology that a Cat 3 was about to land.   You had virtual classes for half the day.  The winds slowly increased, but not alarmingly.

Oma, Opa and TJ came over to celebrate Mommy's birthday and enjoy some steaks your Daddy cooked for us.  My parents decided to leave and got home, just in time.  The rain came quickly.  The wind picked up... sending the rain sideways.  By the evening, it was pretty scary.  The rain was so thick and heavy, it was pounding on the window.  You said, "It's like someone is yelling Let Me In!"  I was waiting to hear the crack of the windows, but that didn't happen thankfully.

The house rattled and the wind howled and we watched as tall tree tops bowed down to scrape the ground.  Then the power went out.  We scrambled for flashlights and candles.  Your face was light from the iPad, at least it had power.  If we knew it was going to be a Cat 3, we probably would have evacuated.  But the news kept saying, Cat 2.  It was a frightening experience.  And then... it calmed to a deathly quiet.  I went outside to feel the hot humid still air.  There was no sound.  No birds chirping.  We were in the eye of the storm.  The sky was a weird orange and it was calm enough for long enough to lull a person into a false sense of safety.  When those winds picked up - there was no slow increase this time - it was THERE, a fast turmoil.  I'm amazed by the flexibility of trees to bend in such strong winds and strength to keep their roots in the ground.  

Thank goodness it was a fast moving storm.  It left most of our area with no power and hot air.  It wasn't until 4:30am that I felt the first cool breeze of the cold front and could fall asleep.  The next morning, you and I woke up early and picked up branches from our yard and for the people behind us.  We were without power for 3 days.  Fortunately your Daddy and Uncle Matthew were able to fix the generator we had after the first day.  We didn't lose food in the refrigerator.  

Because of so many days without power and businesses closed, we saw people outside again... much like it was at the beginning of the pandemic.

Another huge thing that happened is that Uncle Rob had emergency eye surgery.  His retina detached.  I'm grateful he went to the eye doctor and the surgery was soon after it was discovered.  I'm also grateful Tita Roda was there in the hospital.  She heard the code and as a nurse, she knew what it meant.  The code was for a heart attack.  Tita Roda and Uncle Rene stayed at the hospital for as long as possible.  Tita Roda was kicked out of ER at one point.  It's good that they went home to get some much needed sleep.  Thankfully, after repeated tests in the hospital over night, my brother was released to go home to recover.  He will be spending most of the time with his head to one side (for the first week) and after that, he can move to the other side, but not flat on his back.  The surgery calls for removing the fluid in his eye and filling it with gas.  The gas holds the retina that was surgically fixed in place.  Eventually the eye will refill with liquid again.  2020, not hindsight.

Another family member on your daddy's side had surgery as well.  We have been praying for your cousin who had a brain tumor.  It was the same kind she had 9 years ago and it came back in the same spot.  She went to California to have it removed, same hospital as before.  The location of the tumor can cause speech problems and mobility issues on the right side.  She went through this the first time and completely recovered.  This time, she was talking and walking much better after the surgery - prayers are awesome!

This week you are off of school, Daddy is off of work and Mommy is going in to the office.  (Though Daddy did have some accounts to go to when Mommy logged in for work in the afternoon.)  We are so proud of how well you are doing in school.  You made the Honor Roll and received an Eagle Pride award from your school.  You have apply yourself and be an independent student with virtual learning.  Oma and Opa need time with TJ, which is understandable considering there's a lot of ground work to cover for kindergarten.  You listen to your teacher, ask questions and have tests frequently.  You love your teacher, your Art GT teacher and GT teacher.  

You're also doing Outschool classes in art, math and science.  You started a YouTube channel.  You wanted to do videos to help other kids, "because kids learn from kids."  One of your videos was about using the Tape method in math.  A few days after your video was posted, Mommy received a text from a friend:  "Gotta tell you something funny.  Friday I was doing math with Daniel and I missed the tutorial on how to use Tapes to solve the problem.  So I was going to look it up and then I just happened to get on Facebook and you had shared Gregory's YouTube page and he had a tutorial on it.  I watched it and my questions were answered... by a 7 year old lol and I'm not ashamed to admit it.  Haha."  You were so pleased to have helped someone!

Maybe one day you'll have a YouTube tutorial on doing architecture.   You just took a class on this and loved it!  No wonder, because it involves using a ruler, creating and drawing.  Your confidence is growing in leaps and bounds.

This past weekend we had an early Thanksgiving meal.  Daddy bought a smoked turkey from Sam's and made yams with sugar pecans on top.  I made the green bean casserole (Oma's recipe).  Opa and Oma brought the Grimball Golash (veggie mix of onions, squash, zucchini and sausage) and rice.  Granny and Grandfather brought a chocolate pie.  You set the table and we had a delightful meal.  Sometimes it's good to do things not on the regular day!

Praying that the rest of 2020 is calm, but there are warning signs of people testing positive for the virus more and more again.  There are rumors that schools will be 100 percent virtual after the Thanksgiving holidays.  There are rumors the President Elect will say, "Shut it down."  All rumors, just enough to end 2020 on edge.  Let's hope for the best.

Love Always,

Mommy