Seeing Friends... In The House!

It's something little that feels big. Or is it something big that feels little? Hawk and I are seeing a couple of friends today... in our house!

The four of us haven't totally been strangers over the past year. We've met several times for hiking and picnics— oh, and one wedding— but always outdoors and with masks and 6' distancing as much as possible. But now that we've finished our Coronavirus vaccinations, and at least two weeks have passed for maximum effectiveness, it's safe for us to gather indoors & unmasked again.

Having friends over to the house means... housecleaning! With nobody but ourselves entering our house for the past 13½ months we've let a lot of tidying slide. Oh, the house is hardly a pigsty. We don't want to live like that. But there's a lot of clutter, and a few cleaning tasks have been neglected because they just haven't been that important to us. The foyer and the lower stairs, for example. I vacuumed and mopped them yesterday. I don't think I've done that for 13½ months!

Lockdown Day 405: When the Walls Come Crumblin' Down

Today one part of the walls of the Coronavirus lockdown came crumblin' down. We had friends over at our house— without masks! Yes, I tipped that off in a blog this morning... which was really about housecleaning. 🙄😳😅

So how was it? Well, first we ate lunch together. We went out to a local Mexican restaurant that used to be one of my favorites. I say "used to" because I used to eat there once or twice a week, a habit I've not been in for.... about 409 days at this point. In fact this was the restaurant I was sitting in about 409 days ago when I decided to cut back on dining inside restaurants a few days ahead of the lockdown.

Today we didn't eat indoors at the restaurant. We ate outdoors. But the four of us sat at a table, under a pavilion tent in the parking lot, without worrying about being 6' from each other.

As for the food? Frankly it was meh. Things change. I doubt this will be one of  my favorite lunch spots again.

After lunch we returned to our house. The four of us played a board game. Our friends brought over Wingspan. It's a game I've been wanting to try for thematic reasons (birds!), but I haven't been in the game-buying mood for, uh... about 407 days. 407 days ago was the last time I sat down f2f with anyone other than Hawk to play a game. Finally we had an opportunity to play it. It was, uh... thematic. I'll write more about Wingspan in a separate blog.

So, how does it feel that the wall are coming crumblin' down? Honestly it doesn't feel special. It just feels like getting back to normal again. Like maybe our long, worldwide nightmare is one step closer to over.