Bah Humbug!
In keeping with the general spirit of 2020, I am channeling my inner Scrooge as I write this year’s newsletter. We greeted the new decade with bright eyes and bushy tails, only to have our whole lives upended by Covid mid-March. Emma (as Wendy) and Elizabeth (as the Ostrich in Neverland) had just finished their performances in the high school play “Peter Pan” the weekend before Washington state’s stay-at-home order went into effect. And then, life as we knew it came to a screeching halt. I took the girls to the library on the last day it was open and we checked out 45 books and 3 movies. That lasted us about a month. We got to try a drive-in version of church for one Sunday before that too was shut down. At that point, Ryan and I succumbed to pressure from our kids and started a subscription to Disney+. I did organize some measures to keep the girls intellectually engaged until either school would resume or… something else happened. Annie did sneak home on the last day of school the book the 5th graders were reading, so both Annie and Maddie were able to find out how “Chains” ended. Otherwise, they would have been left in mid-story purgatory. Emma’s College in the Classroom classes resumed online fairly quickly, and by that time Ryan was in nearly constant online and phone meetings. It was at this point we realized how truly awful our internet was and that it was time to spread our internet wings beyond what the rural, local phone company could provide.
Some kind of semblance of school resumed at the end of April for the kids, and one day rolled into the next in a monotonous hum of “stuck at home.” Things that stand out from Spring are:
1. Ryan having Zoom meetings in a porch chair outside, with his computer sitting on a Disney princess card table that somehow we still have from when the girls were small, with Dickens the cat laying on Ryan’s papers.
2. Going on bike rides around Sunnyside and Grandview. Going on long walks. Gardening. Lots of Gardening.
3. Family game time- Twister, Ticket to Ride, Cover Your Kingdom and Antiquity Quest, Life, Five Crowns, Splendor, SkipBo, Jenga, and Split. (Among others…)
4. Annie and Maddie finishing 5th grade by picking up their belongings in a school drive-thru, their things pre-scraped into black trash bags, 96 days after the last time they were able to be at school.
5. All of our baking projects. Our favorite was the Giant Cookie Challenge put on by Our Best Bites on Instagram. Those were BIG cookies we made and ate.
Spring progressed into Summer. We got to pick up Elizabeth, Annie, and Maddie’s dance costumes we paid for and never used. Emma got her first grown-up job as a cherry checker for a local farm. She had to be at work at 4:30 am, 4-7 days a week for a few weeks. She came to the conclusion that this kind of agricultural work is not her dream occupation. The Zoom meetings for the kids were at an end, but Ryan was the Energizer Bunny who just kept going and going and going. Generally, his workload eases for the month of July, but not this year. The administration of the school district had to reinvent the educational wheel during this time of plague, based on rules and guidelines that come and go and changed on what seemed a weekly basis. We managed to steal Ryan away from work for one week and we drove 987 miles in one day to southern Utah. While driving that far in a day can be done, we do not recommend it. We enjoyed the sights of Bryce Canyon, National Reef, Arches, and Moab. We experienced some of the hottest hikes ever known in the Kannely family. We gained an appreciation for early morning hikes before it was over 90 degrees and the swimming pool in the evenings. Naps, games, and movies are appropriate for afternoons in Moab. We enjoyed all the family time on this trip, actually stopping to see extended family members. We managed not to be the harbinger of sickness, so that’s a plus. In August the girls and I went to Ryan’s family reunion, but without Ryan in tow. It was half at Ensign Ranch near Cle Elum, and half at his parents house. Somehow or other, one of the girls got the stomach flu at Ensign Ranch in the middle of the 2nd night. A word to the wise, you don’t want to have to clean up puke at a rustic, non-plumbed cabin in the dark. It’s not a pleasant job. Inexplicably, the family wanted us back after 24 hours at home. We also experienced virtual Driver’s Ed class with Elizabeth. Honestly, is a boring, monotone voice a requirement for teaching teens how to drive?
And then it was Autumn. School at home began, and what a wild ride that was. Every teacher had their own way to post links to either Zoom or Google Meet classes and how to turn in assignments, and it took us a solid week to figure it all out. I felt like I was parenting young children again. I couldn’t even use the bathroom without a shout of “MOM!” urging my quick assistance. I became the Awkward Extra tromping through webcam classes, walking by in pjs or exercise clothes, hauling baskets of laundry or doing other household chores. Annie and Maddie started middle school band, playing the clarinet and trombone respectively. Their favorite place to have band class is in my bedroom. We’ve all heard of garage bands, but bedroom middle school bands are something else entirely. Elizabeth took Painting (which used not one whit of paint in reality), Biology (lab-free), and Yoga (my favorite day was when she learned Corpse Pose and was just horizontal on the floor). Emma took 4th year French (which included doing Yoga explained in French), AP Calculus (she says this is when math gets fun and interesting….), and is having the saddest excuse of a Senior year (no plays, no seniors strutting through the corridors, and as Junior class vice-president- they didn’t actually get to put on the Prom they paid and planned for). Early morning seminary actually got moved forward an hour to 7:30 am, so that’s not so bad. The school district is transitioning to hybrid learning (part in-person, part online) and Annie and Maddie have attended a whopping two days of in-person classes so far. The high schoolers are indefinitely postponed, however. You can guess how well that went over in this house.
Ryan is keeping busy. He has left most of his usual gardening and yard work to his wife (any excuse to leave the confines of the house!) with all of the hours he spends at work. He was finally released from the Bishopric at church last month. Recently Ryan forgot to take one of his reusable masks to work with him, and ended up using one of the blue disposable kinds. Unfortunately this happened on a day he also forgot to shave, so he had a nice amount of rough stubble on his face. That whisker stubble rubbed constantly on the mask and shredded the mask on the inside to the point he had fibers the consistency of cotton candy floating around, waiting to be inhaled, eaten, or snorted.
I discovered merino wool this year. It sounds like such an odd thing to be excited about, but there it is. I bought wool socks, shirts, and now one of those super thick Irish Aran Island sweaters for my birthday. It’s the first time I’ve been warm in December in years. Out of a year like this one, we take the wins when we can. I’ve also tried to teach myself how to play the piano. I’m making progress.
In this year of ups and downs we have definitely had some silver linings. Family time has been (mostly) great. We went on some beautiful hikes. We learned that passing wind doesn’t make you lighter- the opposite is true. We’ve made a record height Jenga tower before it fell. We learned how to insult each other in Shakespearean English (You churlish, beetle-headed foot-licker!), we’ve read a lot of books, and done a lot of crafts. We’ve had time to be thoughtful, and our family scripture study is the best it has ever been. Adversity has a way of making us appreciate our blessings. During these dark days of winter, we can focus on the light of our Savior Jesus Christ shining into our lives, and feel His peace. Let us press forward with faith and hope (and a sense of humor), and we can be glad 2021 isn’t an election year.
Signing off with a very Merry Christmas and best wishes for the new year.
Love,
Ryan, Danae, Emma, Elizabeth, Annie, and Maddie