So it IS Thursday, which also happens to be the last day of April 2020. And WHAT an April it was, probably the most unique in most of our lifetimes. This was the month we dug in and hunkered down with stay-at-home mandates and walked around outside with face coverings and such. This is the month we started to get used to a new normal as this week winds up finishing the 6th week we've all been working from home. The working from home part has been pretty easy actually. I think it's the Johnnie-not-going-to-school and Lisa and I taking turns playing teacher has been much tougher, at least from my perspective. And it wasn't exactly the mornings with him since I've actually developed a routine and rhythm when following his teacher Ms Gee's Lesson Plan. The trick is we're usually done by lunchtime and so I have to figure out stuff to keep him occupied in the afternoon. Therein lies the work isn't it? How to keep him occupied without parking him in front of the TV or the iPad. Sometimes we go outside and play baseball. But it gets really tough when I have meetings and I pretty much have to leave him alone. He usually ends up drawing something or doing something creative, thank god he's at least very independent that way. This morning was his meet-up with his class via Zoom. And although shorter than usual because his class already met up last night he still managed to present his "favorite season" drawing. I think he was the one of only 2 kids who said fall was his favorite. Why not fall? It's his birthday season. Plus, his favorite thing of all comes in the fall: Halloween! So anyway Johnnie did his Zoom class meeting and then I made him a pizza for lunch. Just a routine Thursday by now.
I ended up having 2 meetings this afternoon, and so I did have to park him in front of the TV watching Tumble Leaf. But I also managed to get some play time in with him as well. I knew full well it was hand-off night tonight and I always maximize our time together on Thursdays. Wasn't it just a few months ago that I would take him to Mitsuwa for a quick dinner before heading him off to Cornerstone Music Conservatory for Lisa's supposed violin lessons? Man how long did we end up doing THAT before Lisa wised up. Driving home after dropping him off always felt like a kick in the gut back then. Not all that different still actually. Still I did manage to get a video clip of Johnnie and I horsing around. Watching it makes me laugh. As it always will. As soon as the late afternoon huddle wound down I got Johnnie some chicken strips from Carl's jr. He's always liked those things even from the time he was barely 3 years old and I gave him his first taste of it at a Carl's jr in Santa Barbara. And tonight, it is dinner. And then by 6 PM, Lisa came by from her office and picked him up. He always knows when his mom is coming. He ends up drawing her SOMETHING. And then when they drove off and I did my evening walk, I still felt like I got punched in the gut. Not as hard anymore. But I felt it just the same. I finished my 11,000+ steps then had an hour-long talk with Jodi. I do think that woman likes me. We talked about possibly meeting up this weekend. We'll see. Not so much to clean up tonight. I had done a pretty good job of clean-up maintenance all week long. Just watched an episode of SIREN, then off to bed. Not going to be a 7 1/2 hr sleep like last night. But I'm not staying up way past midnight either. Just a nice end to the month of April that I don't think I'll ever forget.
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