Dreaming of Travel

“Once the travel bug bites,

there is no known antidote,

and I know that I shall be happily infected

until the end of my life.”

~ Michael Palin ~

I've mentioned a few times that I don't mind this quarantine…and I really don't! I like being at home. SOOOOOO much.

That's true when the alternative is going to work.

I'm thrilled to stay at home and not go to work – and I mean physically going to work, not doing work, because I like doing work and being productive! I've actually been working a ton during this quarantine, and it's been amazing being able to do it at home. Making the change to teaching online has not been without its frustrations, but being at home, in my own space, controlling the temperature, playing music whenever I want, and having Ginny with me is indescribably wonderful.

You know those people who win the lottery and then just go back to their regular job? I don't understand those people. AT. ALL. That would not be me, not only because I'd rather be at home than at work, but also because C and I would be on a flight out of town, off to see the world.

And this is what is proving to be the most challenging part of the quarantine for me: not being able to travel.

I'm well aware that this is the epitome of a "first world problem."

Nonetheless, this is what's difficult for me right now. It's not being unable to go to stores or restaurants. To me, those are nothing more than minor inconveniences.

But not being able to go somewhere else – to hop in the car and take a road trip or book a flight for a weekend getaway – that's what I'm missing right now.

We were supposed to be in Quebec City this week for spring break, but we had to cancel that trip.

We had a trip to WDW planned at the end April and another planned in May, both of which have been cancelled.

I have two more trips planned to WDW in June – one with my mom that includes a cruise and another with C – and I have no doubt those will be cancelled.

Beyond June, who knows...we have trips planned, but only time will tell in terms of whether those transpire.

No one needs to tell me how important it is to stay home. I'm scared for my mom's health every moment of the day.

But I also think that it's more than ok for me – and for anyone else – to be disappointed that plans have changed. That things we'd been looking forward to doing and places we'd been looking forward to going are no longer options. Being disappointed doesn't mean we don't realize we are in the middle of a terrifying health crisis. It just means we are human.

Sooner or later, things will get back to normal. We'll be able to leave our homes, shop, go out to eat, and socialize. When that time comes, C and I will be booking trips we are currently daydreaming about. It's been fun to research places on our bucket list and plan future travel.

In the meantime, we have thousands of photos of past trips to tide us over, include these ones from a few summers ago. We've been extremely fortunate to see some beautiful places on this spectacular planet, but Crater Lake National Park is pretty much my favorite spot ever.

Happy Tails to you!

A Disney Fan in the Making!

I wasn't sure what to focus on for my Magical Monday post, and then I talked to my niece. My brother, sister-in-law, niece, nephew, and my mom went to WDW at the beginning of March, and my niece has been all about Disney ever since. I wanted to go with them so badly, but unfortunately, there's a little thing called a job that prevented me from joining them. Of course I love Disney Parks, but it was really my almost-three-year old niece fueling my desire to go with them! Last May, C and I were at WDW at the same time as my brother, sister-in-law, and niece, and it was so fun to do things with her! Now she is even more delightful to be around because she is a very entertaining chatterbox and we love it!

Right now she is super into Peter Pan, and when I spoke to her, we were talking about the different characters. I asked her if she liked Tinker Bell and she replied, "Tinker Bell is the best!" in her adorable little toddler voice! So cute! She likes to sing "You Can Fly! You Can Fly! You Can Fly!" while wearing fairy wings and it is the most precious thing ever.

I love that she loves Peter Pan! It was my favorite ride when I was young…the illusion of flying high over London was so magical to me and I still love that ride so much! When Chelsea joined our family in February 1999, it took us a few days to finally land on a name for her, but I knew I wanted her middle name to be Tinker Bell because Chelsea was cute and tiny and Tinker Bell was one of my favorite characters!

I bought a pair of Tinker Bell ears before Chelsea passed away, and I've taken them to the four Magic Kingdoms we've visited so far so that I could take a picture of them with the castle. When we finally make it to Hong Kong Disneyland and Shanghai Disneyland, those ears will be coming with me!

Walt Disney World

Disneyland

Disneyland Paris

Tokyo Disneyland

I hope the next time my brother and sister-in-law go to WDW I'll be able to go because I am loving the Disney fan my niece is becoming!

Happy Tails to you!

Quarantine: Week 3

We've come to the end of another week of the quarantine and essentially my time has been filled this past week with two things: zoom meetings and taking pictures of Ginny.

I had eighteen zoom meetings last week. EIGHTEEN. I spend so much time sitting at the dining room table in front of my computer that Ginny is now taking her meals up on the table beside me. She doesn't seem to mind!

When I'm not in a zoom meeting and she's not living up on the table, she follows me around as I am cleaning up or putting laundry away or whatever. Yes, it IS a glamorous life!

We have been trying to take her for rides or walks once a day. She loves the rides. She does not love the walks. She's never been one to enjoy the outdoors!

We checked the guidelines put forth by Maryland and Virginia, and visiting family members IS allowed, so we took my mom to my brother's house yesterday to spend the weekend visiting my niece and nephew. On our way home, we stopped at the National Mall to take Ginny for a walk, and I was once again pleased with how people were respecting social distancing while getting some fresh air. Today we had plans to go to the battlefield, but there were seemingly one million people there and we don't want to take any chances being in crowds. We ended up going to a local park and had the place pretty much to ourselves, which was awesome. A Sublime Sunday indeed!

This upcoming week is technically our Spring Break, meaning there won't be any school zoom meetings, so I'm hoping to get a bunch of things done around the house. I'm sure I'll have a four-legged shadow following me around the whole time!

Happy Tails to you!

Lovely Lyrics: Show Yourself

It's been more than a year since I've posted a "Lovely Lyrics" post! Obviously being in the house has meant that I've had the opportunity to listen to a lot more music than my schedule usually allows for, which has been fabulous. As I mentioned in another post, my very favorite Scotty from Jellyrolls has been doing FB Lives, and a couple of the other amazing pianists have done Instagram Lives, too, so I have been enjoying those performances tremendously. Therefore, when I was trying to come up with a theme for my posts, Sing Song Saturday made perfect sense!

As you might imagine, I'm also pretty obsessed with Disney music, and the majority of my "Lovely Lyrics" posts have been Disney songs. I was listening to the Frozen II soundtrack for the millionth time and realized that during these uncertain times, especially for my teacher friends, the song "Show Yourself" is perfect.

Show Yourself

from Frozen II

Every inch of me is trembling

But not from the cold

Something is familiar

Like a dream I can reach but not quite hold

I can sense you there

Like a friend I've always known

I'm arriving

And it feels like I am home

I have always been a fortress

Cold secrets deep inside

You have secrets, too

But you don't have to hide

Show yourself

I'm dying to meet you

Show yourself

It's your turn

Are you the one I've been looking for

All of my life?

Show yourself

I'm ready to learn

I've never felt so certain

All my life I've been torn

But I'm here for a reason

Could it be the reason I was born?

I have always been so different

Normal rules did not apply

Is this the day?

Are you the way

I finally find out why?

Show yourself

I'm no longer trembling

Here I am

I've come so far

You are the answer I've waited for

All of my life

Oh, show yourself

Let me see who you are

Come to me now

Open your door

Don't make me wait

One moment more

Oh, come to me now

Open your door

Don't make me wait

One moment more

Where the north wind meets the sea

There's a river

Full of memory

Come, my darling, homeward bound

I am found

Show yourself

Step into your power

Throw yourself

Into something new

You are the one you've been waiting for

All of my life

All of your life

Oh, show yourself

Music and Lyrics by

Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez

These words in particular have been resonating with me as we've made the shift to online instruction:

Show yourself

Step into your power

Throw yourself

Into something new

You are the one you've been waiting for

We've been out of school for three weeks now and what I see my colleagues doing for their students is remarkable! Countless unknowns with things seemingly changing hour-by-hour and they are handling everything beautifully! I am so proud to know them!

Happy Tails to you!

Family & Friends: Same Difference

When I was 11, my dad adopted me and it is one of the best things to ever happen in my life.

From an early age, it was clear to me that "family" was so much more than people who happen to be blood-related. It's the people who choose to love you.

When I got older, I realized that not only could friends be family, too, but also that family members can be some of your most cherished friends. Hence the word FRAMILY. On Fridays, my posts will be about friends and family; today's is about family!

One of my most proud titles is that of big sister. I absolutely adore my two brothers! Now that we are all adults, I love that we are definitely friends in addition to being siblings. Both of my brothers have gotten married, so I've gained two sisters I love very much! At my youngest brother's wedding last summer, we had matching t-shirts made, so I gave a brief speech at the reception to welcome our new sister into our pack.

One story I wish I had shared during that speech was about my newest sister. She is an only child, and a few months before the wedding, we were at her parents' house. My sister interjected some thoughts as her mom was telling stories, and after this happened a few times, her mom told her not to interrupt. The reply from my sister was priceless: "You wouldn't last two minutes in the King family!" It's hilarious to me because we are a fairly loud bunch when we are together and my brothers and I talk over each other all of the time. No one gets offended or annoyed; it's just what we do. However, all three of us married people who are from calm, quiet families…C and this sister are only children, and my other sister has one younger brother. All three of them, C included, have had to learn to just jump in if they have something to say because that's simply how things go when we're all together!

Why didn't I think to share that story at their wedding?!? "You wouldn't last two minutes in the King family!" will go down in family history as one of the most comical and spot-on statements ever! Argh! I'm still annoyed about that missed opportunity!

There were some unbelievably beautiful photos from that wedding last summer, but I have a clear-cut favorite. The shirts we had made were themed after the TV show Friends – there are six friends on the show and our new sister was the sixth member of our pack. When we presented the shirts, we called my brother and new sister up join the four of us, and the photographer captured the six of us in a group hug. I cannot even describe how much I love this picture because of what it represents and the memories I have from that moment.

Several years ago, I read The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart and a quote from the book sums it up perfectly:

"You must remember,

family is often born of blood,

but it doesn't depend on blood.

Nor is it exclusive of friendship.

Family members can be your best friends, you know.

And best friends,

whether or not they are related to you,

can be your family."

Happy Tails to you!

One Good Thing About This Quarantine

This is a quick Thankful Thursday post! I try to make a concerted effort to look for the positive when I find myself in a less-than-ideal situation, and I definitely think being quarantined at home is a less-than-ideal situation! One of the things that has made all of this somewhat tolerable is having my mom living with us.

So many people are separated from their loved ones during this time, and I am beyond grateful that she is here with us and we can do as much as we can to make sure she is safe. My maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather each live in senior residences, and they haven't been allowed any family visitors for a few weeks now. I worry about them being lonely and while I'm certainly happy technology can help us all stay in touch, it's not the same as a hug from a loved one.

As for my mom, if she were living on her own, I would be so scared – not that I'm not scared now, but I do feel more in control of the situation than I would be feeling if she didn't live with us. She is immuno-compromised and is on oxygen around the clock, so this virus is a very frightening threat for her because her lungs are already only functioning at about one-third of healthy lungs. Pulmonary fibrosis is a pretty terrible disease, but having her with us gives me a little peace of mind because we can keep an eye on her and help her so that she doesn't have to go out into the world right now.

I'm not saying it's easy…she typically goes to appointments or lunch with her friends and skillfully manages the oxygen because it's just part of her day-to-day reality, so being stuck in the house is no more fun for her than for anyone else who likes to go out and do things. Frankly, I think this whole quarantine been easier for C and me than it's been for my mom because we actually like to just hang out at home when things are normal!

I'm just really thankful that I don't have to wonder how she is doing because she is here with us. So I can hug her whenever I want. And I know not everyone is so fortunate.

Ginny is pretty happy she lives here, too.

Happy Tails to you!

One Post A Day While Inside We Must Stay

I'm challenging myself to write a blog post every day in the month of April. Given that we are in the midst of a pandemic with orders to stay at home, I wasn't sure what I'd write about because not a lot of exciting things are currently happening. Solution? I came up with a theme for each day of the week!

Magical Monday

Travel Tuesday

Wiener Dog Wednesday

Thankful Thursday

Framily Friday

Sing Song Saturday

Sublime Sunday

For today's Wiener Dog Wednesday post, I thought I'd share that we recently picked up Riley's ashes. It's an amazing gift to have her remains as a concrete reminder of the place she will forever have in our hearts.

Her ashes are something physical I can hold in my hands, something I can talk to, and something I can sit with when I'm grieving. I've cried often over these past two weeks and it's comforting to know that she is now back home with us.

Her little urn joins the other six on the fireplace mantel in our bedroom.

What you see in this picture is, without a doubt, my most cherished and most heartbreaking treasure. The love and memories wrapped up in the lives of each of our dogs are part of my identity. Woven into my soul. I consider it one of the greatest honors of my life to have been their mom.

Molly
Gunni
Duchess
Chelsea
Sadie
Maddy
Riley

People have told me they think the rescue dogs we've adopted "hit the jackpot" when they joined our family. While it's certainly flattering to hear that, we've never felt like we were ever doing anything special or out of the ordinary. We just have a love for dogs that tend to be overlooked. I mean, who doesn't love an adorable puppy? I know I do! But rescue dogs, and in particular, seniors, who have been let down in one way or another by humans? A sweet old soul with a frosted face that longs for nothing more than a family and comfy place to sleep? My favorite.

So actually, we're the ones who hit the jackpot with each and every one of these awesome little dogs. While we never, ever, EVER get as much time with them as we would like, my devastation is overshadowed by the solace I take in knowing we could not have possibly loved them any more deeply. C and I are the ones who have been rescued!

Welcome home, Riley!

Happy Tails to you!