Christmas 2020

Austin & Nick making pancakes

We had a nice, quiet Christmas this year.  Nick and Austin made pancakes- both "regular" and gluten free. We touched base with all of the kids mainly by text and sharing photos.

Austin made an amazing home movie/ video  using our old VHS tapes.   There's cute footage of Chance around 2 looking up the chimney and calling to Santa.  And there's video of all five kids- some parts we are opening gifts (Christmas).   And noisy video of the kids roller skating in the kitchen.   There is also some footage of us at my sister's house- my mom and Dale and Arne were in our lives and are now gone.

And now I will try posting some pictures.

Burning man cookie

My new camera!

Family room

Christmas tree in the dark

 

Remembering Christmas Past 1980

 

I wrote this on Facebook December 23, 2020 at 11:00 pm

On Christmas eve 1980 my almost 3 year old and my 6 month pregnant self returned to the US from Poland. There's more to the story but it will wait. I'm going to bed.

We were stationed in, Poland, where my husband was a consular officer at the US Consulate.   Poland I in general and Poznan in particular, was a difficult place to live.   Warsaw had been completely destroyed in WWII.  Poznan had buildings that were scarred by machine gun bullet holes.  I saw them every day when going for walks with our daughter.  The Polish government was communist, dominated by the USSR.

There were lines everywhere. If you saw a line, you got into it and then found out why people were in line. It could be for toilet paper or other consumables. It was almost always for food.

Shortly before we moved to Poland, the mood was changing.  The newly named Pope was Polish.  The first Polish pope in history.    Labor unions were stirring.  The rumblings of the beginnings of the Solidarity movement were afoot.

And the changes we saw were worrisome.  There were Russian MIG jets flying overhead.   There were convoys of East German soldiers in the streets of town.

With the help of the US Embassy, we decided that our daughter and I should return to the States.   

My husband sent a telegram to his parents in Falls Church, Virginia letting them know that their toddler granddaughter and their pregnant daughter in law would be arriving at Dulles Airport on Christmas Eve.

My in-laws had sent all of our Christmas presents to us in Poland already.  They didn’t want us to have nothing to open on Christmas day.  So they ran up to the local drug store (People’s Drug Store) and got what they could.  I got hand cream. My daughter for some wind up toys.  

It all worked out.

There’s a lot more to the story, but suffice it to say, our son was born March 4, 1981.  My husband was able to be there for the birth.  The two kids and I traveled back to Poland about 8 weeks later.

At 66, I have a lot of Christmas stories to look back on.  I think that 1980 was the most memorable and unusual in my family!

 

Christmas 1955. Athens Greece

 

Yes, I am obsessed

from a friend: 

COVID update on my parents: This has been a rough week. We are all hanging in there, but it’s not been easy.

My mom received convalescent plasma when she was at Shady Grove last week. She felt a lot better after that and was transferred to a COVID rehab facility in the old Washington Adventist Hospital building, which had been shut down because the hospital moved to a better, new facility and was subsequently recommissioned for COVID patients. However, at Washington Adventist, things backtracked for her. Her cough and pneumonia got much worse, and her oxygen levels dropped into the 80s, so yesterday she was transferred to Adventist HealthCare White Oak so she could receive acute care. She is currently stable, but still very sick. She is on level 16 oxygen, which is a very high amount, but she is not intubated, and she is alert and able to talk and eat. She cannot walk right now because she is too weak. She received Remdesivir tonight, and we are hoping that helps her with her breathing so she can start a smoother recovery.

My dad received LY-CoV555 (basically the Eli Lilly Regeneron biologic) via outpatient IV infusion on Monday. He was running a low fever yesterday, and his cough was worse, but today his cough seems a lot better, and he is fever free, albeit with very little sense of taste. He is currently at home and doing relatively well, apart from the extreme stress of my mom’s condition.

We have been in touch with my mom and my dad by phone, text, and FaceTime and have been tracking their situations as best we can.

We appreciate everyone who has been checking in on our situation. It’s incredibly frustrating that COVID has plagued two of the most careful people out there. We hope everyone stays safe over the holidays.

......................................................................................

From my daughter:

Last night a college friend's father was removed from the ventilator that was keeping him alive because he was not responding to treatment. His mother, her grandmother, died of the virus earlier in the week. Yesterday, a local friend's mom who is a nurse got her first dose of the vaccine. Today three college friends who work in health care will be vaccinated

She refused to go to Thanksgiving with her family because she has a baby and thought they were not taking the virus seriously enough. And now she is home safe and they are dying

.........................................................................................................

From August:

Just posted on a professional page: "I have a COVID positive person in my household; he tested positive 8/14 and is now out of isolation and still in quarantine. His fatigue level is lessening but still there; he has had what is considered a fairly mild case, but it's been devastating on so many levels. I have had to sit with uncertainty as no one knows what this virus might do next. I have friends who are much younger than we who are struggling months after the first positive test. And there are NO consistent guidelines. My brother is a COVID contact tracer and he has no consistent guidelines. This is what happens when scientific and medical issues become political. I tell you this as a small and personal outlook on NOTHING being for sure these days. This is reflected in my clients as well as myself." I then went on to talk about how my dreams as of late have been about being overwhelmed with different things along with suggestions of what we, as therapists, can do with our sense of being overwhelmed.

same covid positive person December 20 after "recovering" from COVID:

xxxx's having a surge of covid symptoms and is incredibly frustrated. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Washington Post December 22, 2020:

Washington Post

6.5M like this · Broadcasting & Media Production Company

7 hrs  · 

  · California health officials and hospital administrators are pleading for residents to stay home during the holidays as a record-shattering surge of covid-19 patients pushes the medical system to the brink.

washingtonpost.com

With hospitals nearly overwhelmed, officials say California ‘cannot afford’ another holiday surge
........................................................
A  long time La Leche Leader died of Covid:
Phoebe Frances Kerness, 79, of Charleston, SC and formerly of Savannah, GA, passed away on Saturday, November 14, 2020. Arrangements by J. Henry Stuhr, Inc., West Ashley Chapel of Charleston, SC.
Savannah Morning News
.................................................................

Hollywood Notables:https://www.thewrap.com/celebrities-deaths-coronavirus-star-hollywood-notable-stars/
Who, a year ago would have imagined seeing the evening news readers wearing masks?
____________________________________

Data Table for Average Daily Cases per 100k in Last 7 Days

CDC | Updated: Dec 23 2020 12:25PM

Skip Table

State/Territory	Average Daily Cases per 100k in Last 7 Days
Tennessee	127.9
California	111.2
Oklahoma	85.6
Arizona	84.1
Alabama	82.4
Rhode Island	80.2
Indiana	79
Utah	77.1
Arkansas	75
West Virginia	72
Kansas	71.5
Nevada	70.7
Mississippi	70.5
Ohio	70.5
Pennsylvania	69.4
Idaho	68.6
New Mexico	64.9
Massachusetts	64.8
Delaware	63.2
Georgia	62.6
Kentucky	62.4
South Dakota	61.5
New York*	61
North Carolina	57.6
South Carolina	57.5
Louisiana	57.4
New Hampshire	57.4
Wyoming	57.1
Texas	55.5
Nebraska	55.1
Connecticut	54.1
Wisconsin	54.1
Illinois	53.9
Montana	52.2
Florida	51.8
Alaska	50.1
Colorado	50
New Jersey	49.7
Iowa	48.1
Missouri	46.7
Virginia	45
New York City*	43.5
Washington	42.8
Minnesota	42.7
North Dakota	41.8
Maryland	38
Michigan	37.9
Maine	34
District of Columbia	31.6
Oregon	30.4
Puerto Rico	30.4
Vermont	15.7
Virgin Islands	11.5
Hawaii	9.2
Guam	7.7
Northern Mariana Islands	0.8
American Samoa	0
Federated States of Micronesia	0
Palau	0
Republic of Marshall Islands	0

December 23, 2020

 It is 4:42 am. Not a time when I should be up and about.  My knees were hurting and it work me up.  Then I had to go to the bathroom.  I settled into the reclining chair in the bedroom and found myself feeling really hungry.

I am in the kitchen having just eaten whipped cream cheese with strawberry jam.  Eating right out of the containers.  It was good and hit the spot

I believe that all of the shopping and shipping that needs to be taken care of has been taken care of.  I even wrapped all the presents that I know about,

Courtney tells me each time she gets a package in the mail.  Some of it  is for her and some if for Zach.  Courtney and I are in communication just about every day.  Even if no presents have arrived that day.

Morgan and Kim communicate sporadically. I track the packages sent to them to see f they have received them.  So far good so good.

Darcy doesn't say much about anything.  Gia, Darcy's girlfriend's daughter keeps me up to date.    It looks like all of the boxes I sent got there.

Austin is currently living in our house with us.  With his cat.  Fortunately, the basement where Austin is is finished and set up as a nice apartment.  Austin is looking into buying a house in Maine.   That would be so good for him to get away from us.

Chance's lease is up in March.  He's thinking of  moving to Maine to live with Austin.  We have all decided that with the pandemic still going strong, Chance should stay home in Richmond for the time being.  A small box has been sent his way.

Thirty five days until Biden's Inauguration

 

Christmas is coming

This is our 2020 Christmas tree.  I got it out of the box and assembled it.   Nick started the decorating and I have done a little too (decorations had not been added when this picture was taken)

 

We got to the post office and got the Christmas cards and letters in the mail.    It was a joint project with me initiating and Nick acting in the role of supporting editor.

Various gifts from various websites have been ordered and shipped to the west coast kids.    

I have almost always had a hard time at this time of year.  Memories of stress and discord in my family as a little kid.  Pressure as an adult, married and with kids.   Feeling stretched between families, mine and Nick's.  Not that Nick's family ever pressured us.  But I put the pressure on myself I suppose.

Our best Christmases have been when we lived overseas.   We could be at home with the kids and have a leisurely morning of emptying Christmas stockings.  Opening presents one at a time, in birth order.  Giving everyone to show off their gifts and the rest time to admire them.   

Opening gifts one at a time slows things down.  Makes us just enjoy the moment.  The kids get a big kick out of throwing their torn wrapping paper at Nick.  I don't know when that started, but it is part of the silliness.

I miss the kids.   We will get through this.   We will all be fine.    We will keep working on puzzles in our house here in Aldie.

I will continue to spend "too much" time on Facebook, watching TV and knitting.

 

Happy Birthday Chance

This sweater was giving to me by a La Leche League friend in Hong Kong, shortly after Chance was born.  Such a tiny sweater I did not think it would fit him.  It's doll size. And yet Chance wore that sweater for three months.

When Chance was born, we were in the hospital for 10 days.  I think.  It's a bit of a blur.    It was a scary time.  

I honestly did not know if either Chance or I would survive.  I had a caesarian under general anesthesia.    Before I was knocked out I remember thinking that if we did not survive, the bigger kids would be alright.  Nick would take good care and raise them as a loving father.  I felt a real peaceful, calm wash over me when I faced that reality.  That I might never wake up.  When I did wake up, the first thing I remember asking the nurse was "is my baby alive?".    

All of my children are precious.  All of them were such wanted and loved babies.  But none of them felt so vulnerable.   So fragile.  Chance and I we were both fragile. I was emotionally fragile and Chance was physically fragile .

Even now, on Chance's 30th birthday, I recall the helplessness I felt in that hospital in Hong Kong.    

In my heart, I see all of my children as newborns.  Nursing for the first time with that serious look on their face.   I love them so much it almost breaks my heart.

 

Thirty years ago

 

In December 1990, I had just mailed our Christmas cards, from Guangzhou, China where we were living. 

We were preparing to go to Virginia to await the birth of our fifth child, due in late January/ early February.

The day after mailing those cards, my water broke.  My husband was on a three-day trip to another province [in China} and I did not know how to reach him.

I got the three oldest kids out the door to catch their school bus.   I was home alone except for my three year old.

I called my husband’s secretary who got things rolling. The US Consulate nurse came to make sure I was okay.  A neighbor took my three year old to her home.  I was told that there was a helicopter on standby.

Since the nurse determined I was not in active labor, and the timing was right, instead, the nurse and I took a train to Hong Kong.

Our son, Chance Burke Sherwood was born on December 6, 1990.  At 32 weeks, he was only 17” long and weighed 5lb 6oz.  (Compared to my fourth who was 9lb 15 oz. at birth).

Chance will be turning 30 in two days.  He is a strong, healthy and independent man.

The picture of me was taken by the nurse who was traveling with me on the train to Hong Kong.   I think I am smiling because I know that I am leaking amniotic fluid and soaking the train seat.  And I wasn’t wearing underwear!