All of the hand wringing over whether or not D should keep her grades covered vs not was for naught- she ended up with a 4.0 for the semester, which means they’re all automatically uncovered anyway. That was a good boost to her morning today, as she starts her summer language intensive. Macedonian anyone? Ha!
Recent events had me contemplating how DD’s summer has turned out. She was supposed to have a class in Colorado, a Disney World vacation, got her dream job, could see her boyfriend more, was to be assistant leader at our church camp week.
Colorado, Disney World, and camp are cancelled, the dream job isn’t that dreamy, her boyfriend is in lockdown, grandpa has colon cancer, DD has had health issues last two weeks (almost all better now but it was distressing), and last night our 15 year old dog died. As DD would say, “We are THRIVING”. 
She’ll be okay, of course it could always be worse, but I wish at least some of it could be different. Also, what’s next? 
D19 just left the house for the first day of her summer camp counselor gig!
She wanted a job where she could be outside and, as much as she loves the subject, not think about calculus for a while. Now, if the rain will just stick to nighttimes…
@dfbdfb That’s great! I think DD will be happier when the day camps start early June and she can be outside with kids instead of sitting in the office.
I don’t think we have day camps open? Everything still pretty shut down here. 
Alaska has benefited by being more or less an island (since our border with Canada is effectively closed), and so things like contact tracing are a lot easier than in the Lower 48.
Outdoor summer day camps were considered essential industries here even before the economy started opening up, since they allow daycare for essential workers and social distancing is practical.
Summer day camps opening in SC June 1. I have received email from the YMCA and schools talking about limiting group sizes, handwashing, no field trips…doesn’t really seem like enough. Talked to one YMCA employee - they don’t see it as practical to have young kids maintain distancing.
OH @bjscheel , I’m sorry, that is a lot to deal with. We would be heartbroken if a pet died right now. Maybe what’s next is a new dog? Now that everyone is home to enjoy?
We’ve heard so much in past years about kids developing “grit” and resilience, they are getting a big dose of it now.
@TS0104 She already said she wants us to get one before she goes back but we’ll have to find one that’s medium sized and good with cats. I’ve done some nominal looking on three shelters’ websites and have found only 2 dogs available.
I have never actually looked for a dog- growing up and as an adult living in the country next to a dirt road we have always had strays or dumped dogs show up. When this one came, we checked around with no leads. Thinking she was dumped because she had seizures. Vet guessed her at about 2 years old then and she had 13 happy years with us. So in a way it was expected due to her age but she only had about 24 hours of quickly going downhill so still a shock.
@bjscheel , I’ve been trying to help a friend adopt a dog since march and it’s very hard now…lots of people are adopting (great) yet rescues are operating on minimal staff. Try petfinder.com, it searches rescues and you can search on size, cats, age, etc.
@bjscheel I am so sorry to hear about your dog - we lost ours just a couple months ago, and I still tear up seeing the empty corner where his bed was. Sounds like the last of a series of heartbreaks for your D. I hope you can find a new dog who fits into your family although @TS0104 is right -we have been looking for the past 2 months and the sociable dogs are being adopted quickly at shelters right now.
Thanks everybody for the sympathy on the dog…DH says we won’t look for another just yet but in the meantime we have taken in a stray of another type! DD’s boyfriend is staying with us for the HS baseball season (his mom said he could play, if he found somewhere else to stay as she is doing strict quarantine). We all work outside the home so our bubble isn’t that tight, and our area has extremely low cases. We do think a lot of him and are glad to help him out.
DD is so happy to get to spend some time with him before they are at colleges 4 hours apart. Her job situation is improving and the summer weather has arrived so it’s feeling a lot brighter around here.
Hope everyone is doing ok.
Saw a meme which seemed so apt I thought I’d share:
2020 has been like looking both ways before you cross the street, then getting hit by an airplane.
Still no official word about the return to campus plans for S19 or D17. I was thinking that S19 would be on campus for all four years, but it looks like the plans have changed, at least for this coming year. Apparently Vanderbilt has been approving many requests to live off campus, even for the sophomores and I’m guessing that is so they can space students out in the dorms. S19 thinks that they will put all freshmen in singles. Anyway, he and his friend have been doing a bunch of research to find apartments close to campus (neither of them will have cars) and figure out the finances. I think the costs will be about the same as the dorms, but I wasn’t planning on furnishing an apartment. Of course S is not worried about any of it, but I don’t think it will be as easy as he thinks. I also just don’t like the idea of him being off campus. It will be an interesting school year for sure.
My kids and I went to a protest in Atlanta this weekend and it was very peaceful. I definitely felt like the oldest one there but it was good to do something meaningful with them. I’m feeling good about what they have learned in school and they types of adults they are becoming.
DD is finally at the kids camp stage of her job and really liked it. They had 8 kids yesterday for 3 hours outside and the same ones back today.
Having the BF here is going really well, but I’ve never had the experience of feeding an 18 year old boy full time! (Especially one who’s a college football recruit and weightlifter and working on a farm.) He went through a rotisserie chicken in 24 hours. Got a pork roast in the crockpot today. Basically I need mass quantities of meat.
Two teen boys here…
Peanut butter
Eggs
Whole grain carbs (brown rice, oatmeal, etc)
Beans (mine do a lot of bean burritos, bean enchiladas, etc)
Glad your DD is having fun!
As an increasing number of the NESCACs announce that they will be opening for FtF instruction, and based on hints and comments D19 has heard, it seems that there is a good chance that Midd will be opening for FtF instruction, with a whole bunch of precautions in place. We should know in the next week and a half.
@homerdog - what have you heard from Bowdoin?
S19 got the plan from Vanderbilt today and I guess it was good that he and roommate ended up finding an off-campus apartment. I’m still nervous about it, especially since neither of them will have a car. However, he assures me that he will be closer to his main dining hall than he was from last year’s dorm. The plan seems pretty thorough and all freshman will be in singles. I still need to read more about how dining will work so we can make decisions about the meal plan. There were plenty of vegan options for S last year, but I’m not sure how it will work for him with the new set up.
We’re still waiting on plans from Vassar for D.
@elena13 you guys moved fast to get an apartment. Impressive! I worry about the food situation for all of these kids who have a meal plan. At least, if your S has a hard time getting vegan meals from Vandy, he’ll have a kitchen to cook in. Maybe time for cooking lessons, or at least coming up with a few easy dinners he can make over and over!
This whole thing stinks.
^ trader joe college cookbook. How to make interesting easy meals with a microwave and a hot plate, with food you can buy off the shelf (from anywhere, not just trader joe!) Plenty vegan/easily adaptable to vegan recipes. (D19 goes through regular vegan phases.)
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Chicago people, what is news of the shutdown/emergence from it there? We have rolled our (California Zephyr) trip and currently planning end of July. If that’s not going to work we’ll need to rebook for next summer. Comfortable with what Amtrak has done covid-wise, but we’d want to be able to at least mostly enjoy the city too once we get there. Luckily everyone is being pretty flexible and we can cancel/rebook up to a day or two before we are supposed to leave.