Corona Virus Quarantine Day #82: Sunshine, Swim Days and Current Events. June 9, 2020

My guest writer today is the sweet, sensitive and extremely handsome Cooper Dorsey.

First we ate breakfast then we went out to ride our bikes.  After that Finley and I went to the barn to sweep the floor. Then I went in the basement to play hockey and later moved outside to play some more.  I love to play hockey it’s so fun.  After that Finley and I went to the barn and we shot baskets.  I also brought my hockey stick and I was working on hitting the ball. Mom made us a yummy lunch and then we went to Petey’s pool.  We swam a lot it was awesome.  We went off the slide and diving board a lot.  It was really, really, really fun.  I hope when it’s this hot again we can go there again.  Petey is super good at the Rubik’s cube.  He showed me how to do it.  It was my 3^rd time doing it with his help!  We ate Chipotle for dinner.  It was a good dinner I was really hungry from all my swimming.  We finished the movie Greatest.  It is a really good movie.  I liked how he never gave up and he got a full scholarship to a college because he worked hard and always wanted to be a Razorback. He got up at 3am just to work hard. It was super cool.  I feel like we’ve been dealing with the corona virus for a really long time. I would really like to go more places.  See more friends and eat in a restaurant.  Overall today was an awesome, amazing and fun day! I am thankful for everything in the world except sicknesses or hurricanes or tornados or stuff that hurts people.  All of that is bad.

Love, Cooper

It has been in the 90’s for over a week now.  It’s also extremely humid.  I love the summer and warm weather but this weather is just a tad too much for me.  Being at the lake make the 95-degree weather tolerable but when you are home with no water to immerse yourself in…yikes.

This is of course a high class problem.

It pays to have family with a pool.

I texted Aunt Laura yesterday in preparation for the hot day and asked if we could come down to swim today.  They were just there on Sunday and had a blast and I knew that a good afternoon of swimming would do them…and me…well.

Thankfully she obliged so we got to go down to Wellsville to swim in their amazing pool.

Since the great escape of 2020 all the kids have been a little protective of Fletcher.  They make sure someone is always with him…it’s pretty sweet.  I know this novelty will wear off at some point but for now I’m grateful to have a few more watchful pair of eyes.

At the pool today Cooper was at his side for the first hour or so as this kid loves the pool and hates his swimmy.  Fletcher is a pretty strong swimmer but this pool is large and the water is deep in most places…so he can’t touch.  It made me a bit nervous (as always) to let him swim with no swimmy but this kid is a boss in the pool.

There was a lot of dunking going on!

Fletcher’s version of a dive!

Cooper and Finley made sure it was not going to be an issue.  Once Cooper moved on to try the Rubik’s Cube again with Petey, Finley took over.  He swam by his side, he made sure a noodle was nearby in case he got tired and he did pretty much whatever Fletcher wanted to do.

It was super touching to watch the boys take care of their baby brother.

Petey, our nephew is AMAZING at the Rubik’s Cube.  Perhaps what is more impressive is that he can actually teach other people how to do it.  Cooper, Ellen and Fiona all tried it and succeeded with Petey’s help!

When we got home they went up to their room to shower and Fletcher wanted to go with them.  When I went to check on them they were helping him wash his hair and when he got out of the shower Cooper was brushing it for him.

Ugh.  A mom’s heart.

I was talking with my sister in law today and she said something I don’t think I’ve ever thought about before…she said living in the country ensures your kids are friends.  When you live in a neighborhood there is always someone else to play with and in the country that isn’t the case.

When I reflect on the past 5 years in this house I have found the same to be true.  While I do believe our kids genuinely like each other I think the past 5 years of living farther away from civilization has made them realize their best friends and life long friends live in their house.

It is my deepest hope that our kids will be friends with each other when they are adults.  That they will enjoy each other’s company and make an effort to hang out.  Maybe this life we live will help make that more possible?

A mom can dream right?

A few other highlights:

 

Fletcher got up early to “shoot” in the “shooter”.  Pretty cute!

 

A bird laid a nest in our driveway and mama bird was none to happy when the kids came by to see her eggs.  

Block creations!

In an effort to also keep up with history and what is going on in our world I want to point out that the protests (peaceful and otherwise) continue around the country in response to the murder of George Floyd by a police officer.  They of course are not only protesting this one death but countless others that came at the hands of police brutality.

I have to say after typing that last sentence that these stories, while horrible and hard to stomach are not a representation of all police officers.  I have a deep respect for anyone who goes into public service, especially a service that puts them in harms way every single time they step out the door.  Saying all cops are bad is like saying all teachers are bad because you hear stories of teachers who have relationships with students (these stories make me feel rage as well).  There are bad eggs in every profession and it’s unfair to paint any one profession with a broad brush, police officers or otherwise.  Bad people in all professions need to be held accountable without question.

I have spent a lot of time reflecting on the world we are living in and I read somewhere that while 2020 seems really bad so far, with corona virus and protests and riots over race relations that maybe this is our country’s wake up call.  Perhaps it is a bright, neon flashing sign that we need to make change in a lot of ways.  I’d argue that first, with corona virus, we have re-learned the value of time with family as a collective society.  Many people already practiced this, but the mandated time at home demonstrated how truly beautiful time together really is.  I’d argue also that we learned a lot about our education system and that many positive things have come out of the cancellation of schools.  One thing that I see is a growth in respect for the profession of teaching.  I for one, (may be biased), think it was about time.

In regards to the protests and riots we are learning that there is a need for reform in our nation as well (though I’d argue we knew this already) and that education and constructive conversation are key elements of this reform.

I grew up in a house where racism was not tolerated and where we talked about race.   In fact, the only detention I ever got in school was because I slapped a boy on the playground for saying the “n” word.  A word I have always found to be incredibly vile. My punishment was to walk in a circle around the playground while everyone else got to play.  I can remember coming home to tell my mom I got in trouble and when she asked what I did wrong she smiled when I told her.  If memory serves, she was proud of me!  I, of course, am not condoning violence and neither was my mom.  My reaction was knee jerk, it was almost out of body, incredibly out of character for my young self…but I hated that word just enough and didn’t think it was funny for this boy to be saying it.

While I don’t think we should go around slapping people, also keep in mind I was a little girl, we should be educating ALL people on the history of race relations in our nation as well as what the problems are and how we can fix them.

I believe the greater point is that I had parents who obviously talked to us about race or else I may not have felt that word was as disgusting as I did/do.  We read books, watched movies and we discussed what we read and saw.  We learned history and discussed that too.

As parents we have a responsibility.

I believe racism and hate are learned behaviors.  I do not believe any child is born with hate in their heart.  I do not believe kids see or care about the color of one’s skin.  That’s why we worry about kids disappearing with strangers because they believe everyone is inherently good.

That is what makes kids so damn beautiful.

I pray our nation can develop the heart of a child.  This hate, this anger, this violence has to stop.

I hope I can be part of the solution.  It starts in my own home with our own kids.  They will know the history, we will have difficult discussions, we must.  Kids were born to love others.  If only we adults could all follow their lead.

I will continue to pray for a solution to end all of this hate and violence.  I will pray that the world develops the heart of a child.

#celebr8awesome

#dorseyshenanigans