Since getting started on a post after a long hiatus can be hard, I am just going to dive right in.

We arrived in Clearwater a few days ahead of our first install, which was scheduled for 11/1. We, especially Bill, likes to take a couple of days to get settled and breathe before jumping into a new project.

Being with my parents was really nice. At first, it was awkward because of COVID, but we had a conversation about the precautions we had all been taking and we just decided we were ok visiting. I know they had been very careful, as my Dad was in the very high-risk category, and for more than one reason. Both my parents are in their upper 70’s and my Dad is also missing half a lung, due to lung cancer surgery back in 2015. While Bill and I have seen some people and had been very cautious, I felt initially afraid of getting them sick. What if we were exposed and didn’t know it or what if I had it and was just asymptomatic? Months have passed and I’m very glad none of us got sick as a result of our visit. I know some people might say we took unnecessary risks, but I believe each person/family has to figure out their own risk comfort levels.

It was another conversation about seeing my sister and her new husband. They both work with public (Disney) and at first we weren’t sure how comfortable we were. Ultimately, we decided we would go visit them and see their new home. Shannon had sent me pictures of how they have to “gear-up” for work and we felt like they weren’t any more risky for us as we were for them. I felt it was important to spend some time with her, as things were finally going well for her and Rodney and we wanted to celebrate with them. As I said above, each person and family needs to make their own choices after being upfront about their behavior regarding the virus.

After being furloughed from their jobs (back in April of 2020,) less than a month after signing a contract to have a house built, Shannon & Rodney both found other jobs, while hoping to be called back to Disney. That day finally arrived for Rodney about a month before their house closing and only a couple of days before it for Shannon. When we went to visit with my parents, they revealed that they had gotten married! They’ve been together a long time and have overcome a lot, We were so excited for them and welcomed Rodney to the family!

A lot of places and things we would usually do during the holiday season were either closed or modified for COVID, while other things happened as usual. We opted to not participate in any of them. Our campground held their usual Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, with an option for take-out, but no masks were required at all. Bill and I speculated as to how many people might get sick, but we don’t know.

We had a trip to PA planned to wait for/meet our newest family member, Granddaughter Arwen. Arwen was a beautiful baby girl, she was born at 4:51pm on 11/27/2020 and weighed in at 8lbs 14oz. She has a lot of similar features as her sister, while also being completely different. Isn’t it awesome how siblings can be that way?

As I mentioned in the previous post, we picked up Billy on the way back to FL. He wanted to see his grandparents. We had gotten him an N95 mask to wear and he shaved his beard off so it would fit properly on the plane ride back to PA.

Once back in FL, Christmas was right around the corner. My parents were very happy to see Billy and also see all the pics and video clips of the girls. (I had plenty)

Billy, wearing his N95 mask, returned to PA without incident. Thankfully I was able to get him a non-stop flight, but he did need to take 2 different trains to get from PHL to Lancaster. He said the plane was not crowded at all and neither were the trains. I was very grateful for that.

We celebrated a quiet Christmas with my parents and the next day we drove back to see Shannon & Rodney again before we left for TX. We spent the evening going to see houses lit up with holiday lights near them, which was fun. We could have gone to Disney, but we decided we didn’t want to be around that many people.

After celebrating a quiet New Years’ on our own (we didn’t participate, but we could hear the campground party) we began our trek to TX. Thankfully, my parents are going to be heading to PA this summer to meet Arwen and see everyone, us included, so I will be able to have more time with them, as my time in FL was quite short this time.

Previous Post: Grandparents Again!

Next Time: Moving On to TX

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