Corona Virus Quarantine: Day #58: Saturday Shenanigan’s: May 16, 2020

Corona Virus Quarantine Day #57: Saturdays Shenanigan’s are my Favorite: May 16, 2020

The top highlight from each kids day!

Finley: Best part of the day was catching two fish.

Cooper: Best part of the day was teaching Fletcher how to shoot a basketball.

Ellen: Best part of the day was either reading a lot or roller blading with mommy in the driveway. (side note, on May 5^th we bought Ellen 12 Nancy Drew books…today she finished the 12^th one…they aren’t small books either. This girl loves to read).

Fiona: Best part of the day was fishing, kayaking, roller blading and eating s’mores (this child is a bit indecisive).

This little crazy lady was “lifting” weights while roller blading so she could get strong!

Fletcher: Best part of the day was playing with Hunter and Logan and winning the championship in basketball.

The highlight of the day was when Fletcher was shooting and he’d dribble and say “championship point” and when he made it he’d shout “Jerry West”. Didn’t get that on film but I won’t soon forget it. He was so excited.

I have learned pretty quickly that Saturday’s are my new favorite day in quarantine. However, I would argue my day didn’t start out awesome. I had to run to Wal-Mart for various things people in the house really needed. Aside from the fact that I’ve always hated grocery shopping (even before Covid-19) it’s 1,000 percent worse now. People have apparently decided that’s is completely fine to ignore the one way signs in the aisles and the really rude people not only go down the wrong way but reach across your cart to get something. The number of times today I wanted to ask people how they missed the very clear, very large signs on the floor indicating the way they should walk were too numerous to count. Then when I was checking out with my girl Bonnie…a patron who came up behind me was extremely rude. If you haven’t been to Wal-Mart lately let me paint the picture…they have very clearly marked 6 ft on the floor and they ask that you not load things onto the conveyor belt until the previous customer is done. I get it…it’s inconvenient and it slows you down…but if you don’t like it…go to the self check out line.

At any rate I was about done checking out and this woman and her teenage daughter came up and broke the 6 -foot rule and started loading their stuff on the conveyor belt. Bonnie politely asked them if they could move back to the 6-foot marker and wait to put their stuff on the belt. The mother in this combo package of pleasantness looked at her and said in an extremely rude voice “I’m pretty sure we are 6-feet” and basically refused to move.

I CANNOT. Bonnie (the woman bagging my groceries) is probably 60+ years old. She is literally just trying to do her job. My mom raised me to stick up for people and I just couldn’t stand by and say nothing…So I calmly looked at this woman and said “ma’am you don’t have to be rude, she’s just trying to do her job.”

She put her hands in the air as to say stop and said “Calm down and mind your own damn business.”.

At this point I heard my husband’s wise words ringing in my head…”you can’t change stupid”. So I simply turned to Bonnie and smiled and before I could say anything, she said to me “thank you for trying to defend me but I’m used to it.”

To this I replied “Bonnie, you shouldn’t have to be used to it. It’s ridiculous. I hope your day gets better.”

I walked to my car fully expecting this bundle of sunshine to follow me to my car and I felt a high level of irritation.

Why? Why are people so rude. Bonnie is simply trying to make a living and each week when I go to Wal-Mart. She’s always there. She’s always nice and she’s always smiling behind her mask. I have ZERO tolerance for ignorance or out right disrespect both of which were on display in that moment. So many parts of me wanted to say things like “nice example you are setting for your teenage daughter” or “did you miss the large sign on the floor telling you where to stand?”

But I refrained. Partly because I didn’t know this person and she could have been crazy and partly because I have no idea what she’s dealing with in her personal world. Maybe she was just having a bad day. I just wish that regardless of what we have on our plate people could try to be kind, respectful and patient with others.

This woman obviously didn’t think much of the social distancing 6-foot rule but it meant a lot to Bonnie. I felt bad leaving Bonnie there to check this extremely rude person out…but I am hopeful that she felt a little bit better than someone tried to stick up for her. I will pray for Bonnie and this other very rude person tonight.

Thankfully from this moment on my day just continued to improve….

Usually, as I know I’ve said, on a Saturday we would be rushing from one event to the next and if it were the fall I’d be waking up very early to head to a tournament and be gone all day…missing all the kid’s events (and feeling guilty).

Now Saturday’s are for a slow start instead of rushing out of the house. They are for fishing, kayaking, riding on the go kart, playing in the barn, bike riding, getting dirty, roller blading, dance parties, swinging on the swings and playing games in the yard.

Uncle Luke helped the kids fish today…they even saw a snake swimming in the pond.

All of those things were done today and they made the day glorious. What made it even better was that for the first time in I don’t know how long…Gaga came out on the back deck and sat with myself, Bryan, Jennifer and Luke and we chatted. The kids ate s’mores and then ran in the yard while we talked by the fire. It was the perfect end to what turned out to be a very beautiful day. While Gaga is by no means back to normal and still has a long-ways to go, tonight she seemed more herself. It was so very nice and I’m so very grateful.

I am amazed at how well my kids can jump on this dang pogo stick, makes me sick just watching it. Seeing Cooper helping Fletcher with his shot and Fletcher allowing it to happen…too much for me to handle.

My exchange with Bonnie and the rude lady today was a stark reminder that we must always…always be kind and in these strange and uncertain times many people are struggling.

We all have rough days and tough moments during this quarantine. We all have felt impatient, annoyed and like lashing out at the nearest target…but those of us that practice kindness do not do that.

So it felt good to stick up for Bonnie. It felt good to make sure that woman knew that she was rude and disrespectful and it was not ok. I hope it brought a smile to Bonnie’s face behind her mask.

I hope you all had a Saturday full of the outdoors and exploration like I did and I pray that someday soon we will not have to worry about rude people yelling at Bonnie in Wal-Mart.

Running with Gigi…good exercise for all!

Sitting by the pond, watching the kids kayak is so therapeutic! So good!

We went on a long walk this morning with the dog and Fletcher just couldn’t walk for awhile so I got to carry him. Can’t say I minded that much because I got some really good snuggles.

He had no idea I was watching but seeing him whip and nay nay in front of our puppy was for sure a good time.