Welcome to Weddings in the Time of COVID

 This past month, I participated in two weddings. For one I attended in person as a bridesmaid. For the other, I was able to watch the ceremony via a Zoom video link. 

I was equally thrilled to attend both. 

I've seen a number of my friends celebrate major mile stones on Facebook recently. I've seen posts about engagements, marriages, baby showers, major birthdays, graduations, and, unfortunately, even a few funerals. Some of these events are in-person, some are only over the internet, others are a mix.

The wedding I attended in person was outside and everyone (except the bride, groom, and officiant) wore masks the entire time. We were able to dance, but, again, masks were always on and we kept our distances. The favors included hand sanitizer and another mask. 

No flowers were thrown. Sparklers couldn't be lit. But the wedding planner provided everyone a stick with colored ribbon to wave as the bride and groom left the ceremony. It still felt like a normal wedding, just with a lot less people and a few minor changes that Instagram or Pinterest might list as a new wedding trend.

Which a lot of this might become. 

Weddings (well any event really) can be expensive and a lot of personalities can cause unnecessary drama. Only allowing a limited number of people at the actual event would likely help the happy couple out a lot. 

Attending a wedding ceremony via Zoom is also really nice. 

I felt included and honored to be a part of my friend's big day. I'll admit that the lack of stress trying to get to the wedding on time was really nice (I've been late to many weddings, coming in just as the bride walks down the isle). Certainly, I'll miss seeing them in person, but I can call them later and mail them a present.

I did something similar for a baby shower I was invited to (though there I was having some technical difficulties and missed most of it).

We as a society want things to go back to "normal" - whatever that means to you - but the reality is, "normal" isn't coming back any time soon. We likely adopt some of these new practices for future events (especially the Zoom stream option).

It's good for us to have these celebrations, even if there are a number of limitations. 

Many years into the future, we'll be sitting down with the next generation or the one after that and looking at our old Facebook timelines when a memory will annoyingly pop up. The kids will see the pictures and they might ask us why everyone at the wedding was wearing fancy masks that covered their mouth and nose. And we'll tell them about the virus that stopped the world in it's tracks and likely changed the course of history.

These pictures are going to end up in history books. They'll be right next to the ones showing the doctors and nurses working hard to save lives. Adjacent to the protestors in masks marching in the streets demanding justice and change. Below the ones of long lines at the polling stations. 

COVID-19 isn't the end of our way of life, but a new beginning that allows new adaptations when we are faced with the toughest of times.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.

Until next week.

Welcome to Lawn Signs

Lawns have long been a place for self expression in the areas I grew up in. Holidays like Halloween and Christmas always had people out doing each other to see who could have the best decorations. Year round, I knew plenty of Catholics who had a statue of the mother virgin in their front yard. People hang flags, do amazing landscaping, and will put up political signs near election time. 

This year, political signs are everywhere. And no wonder, it's a controversial time in the USA. Which brings me to the reason I write this post.

This is a story about two neighbors - well, maybe three or more - and their epic battle of political rivalry using lawn signs.

Sorry guys, for safety sake, no actual pictures of the houses will be shown.

The Saga Begins in Mid-September...

Since moving back to Virginia, I have been driving Lewinsville Road quite a bit to visit my dad. It is on this suburban street - used to avoid Tysons Corner - that we have the prime example of political rivalry and epic pettiness. 

While driving, I would check out the neighborhood and fantasize about owning a home there (something I am extremely unlikely to achieve, even with a more modest house). 

I noticed these two houses early in my travels. Trump flags in Northern Virginia are a rare sight and this one was next to a house with a peace gay pride flag. 

My first thought was: they must get along swell. (Please note the sarcasm)

And for months after, that's all I thought about the two houses.

The September rolled around and political signs for our upcoming election begin popping up everywhere. The house with the Trump flag invests in one of those giant Trump/Pence signs that takes up half their tiny front yard. 

I was unsurprised by this, however my interest became piqued when the next week, the next door neighbors had moved their peace gay pride flag from the pole by the front door to hang from one of their trees right by the road, lit up with fairy lights.

An update on my thoughts: this might get interesting. 

Another week goes by and the giant Trump/Pence sign is vandalized (it's not the only one in this area). The Trump House - as I've taken to mentally calling it - puts up a dozen or so smaller lawn signs. Some say Trump/Pence, others are for one of the other Republican candidates on the ballot, and two handmade signs with arrows pointing at the giant sign saying: "is this law and order?"

The neighbors, at this point, seem to have had enough. They buy a dozen or so small signs for Biden/Harris to stick all over their front lawn. They also add more fairy lights.

As Halloween Draws Near...

It's now getting to be that point in October where most houses have Halloween decorations up. I must admit, the people in Mclean are fantastic decorators (can't wait to see what they do for Christmas). But between the humongous spiders and blowup ghouls are a few lawn signs thrown in for flavor.

Except at these two houses, who have now completely covered their lawns with political signs. The Trump House continues to have problems with vandals - though I notice that the smaller signs get replaced after awhile. The giant one continues to stand, spray paint addition et all.

This past week, I noticed two hilarious additions to the displays. The first isn't all that glamourous, but it did cause me to start giggling. The other next door neighbor to the Trump House put up their own handmade sign reading: "Republicans for Biden". It's got little blue and red stars dancing around the border. 

However, the truly magnificent addition to all this is a newly erected giant Biden/Harris sign that towers over the tagged Trump/Pence one. It's up on stilts and at the top of each is a pink flamingo looking right over the Trump House's.

It's amazing. Truly a chef's kiss.

Three Weeks Until...

We are three weeks from the election and I have no idea if things will continue to happen around these two houses. However, once the flamingos went up, I knew I had to tell this tale to you my readers. 

For this isn't just a tale of the political landscape in America (though it totally is), but the lengths people will go to out do each other in the most petty of ways.

If there are any developments in this on going saga, I will try to provide an update. 

In the mean time...stay safe, stay sane, and laugh as much as you can.

If you enjoyed this post, or it really pissed you off, please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.

Until next week.

Welcome to Reoccurring Dreams

We all know about the most common dreams people have. The ones buzzfeed and other clickbait sites like to use for their top ten lists. They usually include flying, teeth falling out, or being late to an exam for a class I’ve never taken a day of. Sometimes you’ll be somewhere having fun and suddenly realize that you have no clothes on.

I have my own set of reoccurring dreams...and one that has only recently started.

Like in the top tens list, I get the ones where my teeth fall out (with the added bonus of my braces stilling being in and wire jutting out from my mouth). I’ve had the ones where I have no clothes in a public place (those aren’t that traumatic for me). I’ve even been late for an exam or two for classes I’ve never attended a day of. 

The more common ones aren’t too worrisome. Even my dream self is typically more confused than scared or anxious. There’s always one or two details just off enough that, even asleep, I know aren’t really happening. Take for example the teeth dream. I’ll start losing my teeth, while I have my braces and still attending university. The wrong detail - I didn’t wear braces in university, only high school.

However, it’s the dreams that I don’t hear about other people having that I find most distressing. Maybe I’m the only one who has dreams like these or maybe they’ll start to become more common as time keeps moving forward.

My most common reoccurring dream is probably having weird things happen while I’m driving my car. For example, I might be driving and suddenly the light changes to red, but the breaks won’t work and I’ll slide right through the intersection no matter how much I want to stop. My dream self will cringe away, ready to be hit by another car. Nothing bad ever happens.

A similar dream involving cars has me either in a passenger seat or driving two cars at the same time - one behind the other with me in the second car. I hate this one because my body might float away and I’ll still be in control of the car and have to drive it without crashing. Sometimes I can’t see where the car is, but I know it’s general location and do my best to steer it from wherever my body was left.

I hate these dreams.

I feel like I’ve lost control of the situation and terrible things are about to happen - which is probably why I’m having these dreams in the first place.

I’m curious if other people have dreams like this - especially where they get to drive a car Mario Kart style while in a separate car. 

Or if more people will have weird dreams about driving their cars if/when self driving cars become more common.

My latest reoccurring dream is directly related to these trying times and has only recently started. I’ll be out and about, sometimes on a tour, other times in a store and suddenly everyone but me will have a mask on. I’ll freak out and start looking for my mask. Or the people around me will start telling me off because I’m inconsiderate of the others (especially elderly) around me.

I wonder if our generation will start having this dream more and more until it becomes one of the top reoccurring dreams. How long will the pandemic last and how many generations might have this or a similar dream?

Have you, my reader, have had this dream? What about any of the others I mentioned. Let me know in the comments.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y’all like hearing from me.

Welcome to the October Surprise

 Are y'all as exhausted as I am from this past week. The nomination for the new supreme court justice was announced, taxes were released, a debate happened, I got endless joy from the phrase "just shut up man", key people in the current presidential administration came down with coronavirus, and that's just what's been written in the headlines. This week has been insane...and I'm just plain exhausted. 

We are less than a month away from the election.

Are you registered to vote?

Yes, I am. Please stop asking me Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and all the other social media platforms that don't have an "off switch" button for these pop-ups. I feel for the users under the age of 18 (and lied about their age) and the non-citizens who can't opt out of them. No one needs to be reminded a million times about an election they can't participate in. 

The polls all say this, that, and another thing.

None of it matters. Four years ago we were all being told that Hillary Clinton was going to win the election - that didn't happen. 

To be fair, the October Surprise for that election was the report from the FBI. A report that kind of went no where and hasn't stopped anyone else from doing the same thing. 

If you haven't ever heard of the October Surprise, it refers to a last minute event that throws a huge curveball into the US election season (seeing as we vote the first Tuesday of November). It began as a conspiracy theory during the Iranian hostage crisis in 1979 that ended with the hostages' release the same day Regan was inaugurated. The majority of the events that enabled the safe return of the hostages occurred in October 1980 - right before the election. 

I think we've had almost a full week of October Surprises...more than most elections anyway (even 2016). 

Me. It was me.

I'm not surprised, though, that the president caught The Rona. I'm not happy, sad, feeling schadenfreude, or any other emotion that's been shared the past few days. If anything, I am indifferent to the situation. He's been acting so reckless that it was inevitable that the president and those who surround him would catch the virus. 

I still feel nothing.

I don't even feel like this is an "I told you so" type of situation. 

I think I'm too exhausted. 

Life is kicking my butt right now. It's kicking a lot of people's butts right now. I won't go into details. I'm uninterested in putting my whole life on the Internet. Needless to say, that when I do read the latest headlines and watch the most buzz worthy clips, it's with the intention of keeping myself informed while I have a blank expression on my face. 

Fires are still raging in the west. Corona virus has killed more than 200,000 Americans (over a million deaths world wide). Climate change is still happening. My cat bit me this morning because she didn't have any water in her water bowl.

"It's the end of the world as we know it...and I feel fine."

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.

Until the next surprise next week.