Pandemic and ER Daughter

July 4^th-5^th

         Yesterday was July 4^th.  We usually invite my sister with her family and a few friends for a barbecue and swimming.  This year Dan and I  didn’t invite anyone due to the Coronavirus.  Olya invited her best friend Lilly, and Olivia invited Frankie and a few other people. There were probably about 8 young adults swimming here most of the day. I woke up early and ran the Roomba and got out pots, bowls, etc. for them to make the food.  I had gotten a few packages of sirloin steaks the other day at Acme. It was a “buy one, get two free sale!” I had bought a few packages.  I took them out of the freezer for them. I also took our hamburger patties that I made and froze the other day.  After Dan got up, he went and purchased REAL fireworks at some place not too far from where we live. They were REAL, he spent close to $300 on them.   Dan said that you would never know about the high unemployment rate by seeing the huge line he was in at the Fireworks store. It was mobbed! While I was working in the kitchen getting things ready, I totally forgot that I had Parkinson’s.

           When Olivia got up, she gave me a trim, my hair just feels so much better! She gave Dan a haircut and then she went shopping with her best friend Irene for more food for the barbecue. They also purchased wine(which I rarely pay for) and wine coolers.  Olya got up and started cutting the onion, lettuce, vegetables, etc.  I went and sat down because all of a sudden, my body remembered it was controlled by PD.  A reader who belongs to another PD group that I post my blog in gave me some great advice. She said to me that slow is good and to take it easy. Throughout most of my life, working full-time and raising five children, slow and easy just were not things I ever thought about. I don’t like to be idle.  But I am trying to embrace a slower life style because I don’t really have a choice.  I went outside and weeded for about 30 minutes and I did it slowly! I didn’t feel like I was going to fall even one time!

         Olivia is so great at making grilled and/or baked vegetables.  She made a delicious baked mix of small potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, carrots and peppers.  Dan grilled burgers for me and him for lunch because we were so hungry, they were delicious!! In addition to the veggie dish, we had corn on the cob, hot dogs, steak, burgers, chips, potato salad, apple pie, watermelon, and water ice! It was a food fest!!  When it got dark, Dan set off the fireworks.  I was so shocked that they were REAL fireworks.  We lined up chairs on the patio and watched them!

         I went to bed about midnight and I slept so well.  Since I slept well, Sunday was a really good PD day! I came downstairs and cleaned up a few things leftover from the barbecue. I had a reheated bowl of Olivia’s mixed veggies for breakfast!  Then Dan and I went to the cemetery to visit with Amy.  Then we went to Home Depot to get grass seed to fill in a few spots in our yard.  Except for getting out of the car, my PD was quiet!! We then went to the dollar store to get disposable tins of bake -ware. I always use those for camping and we were out of them. I had not been in a dollar store since the quarantine for Covid 19. We also bought a lot of water guns!  I had to go up and down every aisle!

         I hate being isolated because I am a social person! I miss my friends!! Thank goodness for online chats and messaging.  Monday night, for the first time, I am going to go to a socially distanced bereaved parent meeting at the leader’s house. I am hoping that Priscilla and Aileen will be at the meeting because I miss seeing both of them!!  I hope that my PD will behave enough for me to go. Some days it gets so wacky that all I can do is sit on the couch most of the day.