Read chapter 60 here
Sunday, July 19, 2020
“On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the weekend so far?” I asked Andy yesterday morning.
A few seconds passed before he offered an answer.
“A five.”
“I’d give it the same,” I agreed. “It’s turned out better than I thought it would.”
Late Friday afternoon, JoAnna sat in the swing in the front yard awaiting the arrival of the Rehr family. Perhaps overreacting a bit, I took a seat in the back yard after showering, not wanting a welcoming committee for at least 6 people on full display for the neighbors. Wondering where I was, JoAnna wandered into the back yard and joined me among the cluster of chairs under the evergreens. I explained my reasons for avoiding the front yard, which she accepted as a reasonable precaution.
Paula arrived with Becky, Mike, Colleen, Allen, and Kayla shortly after 5:00. Bill, Paula’s son and Andy’s doppelgänger, and his wife Glenda arrived with their 2-month-old daughter Abby around 7:30. Al & family arrived 3 hours later, by which time I was in bed. JoAnna prepared a meal of Cajun sausage bread, carrot salad, and blanched beans and asparagus. We ended the evening around the firepit and made s’mores. The heat subsided throughout the evening and the bugs kept their distance until dusk. I went to bed when the rest of the group adjourned to the garage. To me, that space offered the greatest risk of contact and was a place I preferred to avoid during the weekend. (JoAnna purchased a screen from Amazon to cover the garage door (shown below), allowing circulation and keeping out the bugs, which made the space more welcoming and tolerable.)
Saturday’s weather forecast took an unexpected wrong turn. A storm rumbled through the area during the late morning, which forced all of us to gather in the garage once everyone else arrived from their respective hotels. We all wore masks, of course, but I still felt unsafe as none of us has been tested, and there are numerous examples of community spread by asymptomatic persons. At one point, all 16 of us were in the garage. Had I rated that weekend on a 10 scale at this point, my score would have dropped to a 2 or 3.
An egg bake brunch didn’t get underway until the early afternoon, and it was close to 2:00 by the time the weather had cleared enough to occupy the back yard. Once the sun was out, the air became oppressively hot, which put a damper on playing games. After a shortened game of bocce — first team to 11 points wins — my torso was slick with sweat. I spent most of the rest of the day in the shade. As did everyone else. We sat around the firepit Saturday evening without building a fire. The air was much too hot and stuffy, and the comforting breezes that had brought some slight relief to the afternoon heat had dissipated. The bugs turned out in force a bit earlier than they did on Friday, chasing us to the screened shelter of them garage. Except for me. I went to bed.
Sunday activities got underway very slowly. The Rehr family booked the hotel pool for a 45 minute slot from 10:00 to 10:45, and JoAnna attended mass with Al, Julianna, and Joseph while Cyndi prepared breakfast – scrambled eggs and bacon, fruit salad – in our kitchen. Then we haphazardly arranged our lawn chairs in the back yard, most of us choosing shade, and shared a large-group conversation. No games were played even though the bocce court and bean toss target were still set up. The reunion came to a conclusion when Al announced that he and Cyndi had a 3 p.m. deadline to check out of their hotel.
After everyone departed, JoAnna and I both felt the same conflicting sensations of contentment and emptiness that we experience the day after our Bastille Day party – pleased that everyone enjoyed themselves but a bit despondent, more so in JoAnna’s case, that our time together seemed to pass so quickly. I would have preferred a reunion at a ‘neutral site’, a weekend at a cluster of cabins on a lake. Probably a fantasy right now. With everyone looking to get away from it all, to social distance in remote locations, I suspect it’s a hot market for vacation rentals, people asking top dollar for their properties and potential renters engaging with one another in bidding wars.
Before everyone left, though, we took a socially-distanced family photo.
No comments:
Post a Comment