Well, That Escalated Quickly!

This picture was taken on Wednesday of last week.  That was roughly a week and a half ago.  Corona Virus, or COVID 19, was on the horizon.  It was reeking havoc in China, South Korea, and Italy and had caused quite a stir at a nursing home in Seattle.  We were advised to wash our hands profusely as we were introduced to a new term--- social distancing.

Our awareness was elevated, but no panicked.  Early last week life was moving at it's normal pace. Faith taught Peter to ride his bike.

Team Middle Kids combined forces to negotiate for pro-scooters for their birthdays.  I came home to a conference table set up in the family room.

When Faith throws her full weight of will into a project, it usually ends well for her.  In this case, the three of them got the scooters and now I don't have to worry about what to get them for their birthdays.  Win/Win.

On Thursday morning, Clark and I drove up to Rexburg to catch Bethany's chamber ensemble concert that evening.  It was a lovely drive with my eldest.  But while we drove, it seemed like everything changed.  Schools were closed, church was cancelled, college classes went online, dance, water polo, swim team, mission MTC plans rearranged.  COVID 19 was definitely hitting closer to home now.  And I'll talk more about that later, but truthfully, it was a fantastically lovely time with Clark and Bethany up in Rexburg.

We met up in the Snow building after one of Bethany's classes.

We took Bethany shopping for food she didn't actually need because it turns out that would be the end of her time in Rexburg until the fall (hopefully by the fall in-person classes will be a thing again).

This is also right about the time the food/milk/toilet paper panic set in.  Little did we know what valuable resources were within reach at the moment.

We got smoothies at Boba Luv and played a card game and I felt quite hip hanging with my college kid.

And truthfully, I really do miss Clark and Bethany while they are away at school, so it was a real treat to get to be with and just enjoy them.

We tracked down cousin Ford and loved catching up with him.

Turns out Bethany's concert was the last such gathering on BYU-Idaho's campus for the semester.  It was beautiful and I was so grateful to get to be there for it.  The young man on the far left is Ethan-- a friend of Bethany's.  We ended up seeing a lot more of Ethan in the following days because he ended up coming home with us for an extended weekend.  I'm telling you, Corona changed everything!  Bethany was planning to come home that weekend anyway to do some Miss Utah photography stuff.  We figured, nobody had anything going on for a few days, so why not?

Bethany's violin buddy, Clayton.  I've heard lots about Clayton this year, so I was happy to get to meet him.  He's currently has a mission call to Spain.  With all the changes with the missionaries because of Corona, hopefully he'll still get to go at some point.

I don't know how long all this Corona/COVID 19 will last, but I'm quite sure many things will never return to how they once were.  These are certainly strange times.