Yes, please!

In other art news, this uncharacteristically "earnest" superhero nurse painting by Banksy and Indian folk artists using gods as characters to message social distancing and hygiene.

I found my heart in the woods today

There're unmistakable signs of greening everywhere and although in a group (L & T & R), social distancing and Michigan's winter #7 of 2020 allowed me to stay with my thoughts, thinking through things, work-in-progress/work-at-standstill, recipes, and how in ten days Big A would be on a plane for NYC.

This graffito of a heart did bring me a smile, but much as I appreciate street art, I wish people wouldn't paint on trees.

shadow / reflection

Back to afternoon walks with Big A after a few days off... It had been rainy/he worked three in a row/one or both of us didn't sleep well/some other excuse.

I'm burying the lede a bit here, but Big A's scheduled to report to NYC for a couple of
weeks--although their cases are down, their regular docs will need a break. He volunteered about a month ago, and his schedule has just been formalized.

He offered to "just stay the heck alive" because it made him sad to imagine me falling apart. Reader, I plan to take him up on this generous offer.

'C' is for Sibling

Nu took the box part from a boxed set of thank-you cards and created a lovely 3-D photo frame for At's birthday.

The box was originally plain blue, and Nu painted the grass, flowers, stars, and crescent moon, propping up the photo on a toothpick so you can kind of bobble it.

I thought the moon was a 'C'--and when I asked what it was for, Nu looked me straight in the eye and deadpanned: "it stands for sibling" before breaking into giggles.

I love every part of their creativity.

[I remember when we took this picture so clearly--we had just moved to Yellow Springs at the end of the 2007-2008 academic year, and were visiting Grandpa R and Grandma C. It may have been Nu's first time in a hammock. At is 9; Nu < 1. Taken on my Nikon DSLR, which I loved, but haven't felt the need to use in years now...]

Feeling 21

At's bright smile, 21 birthday candles collapsing into the Bananas Foster, and my hurried, clumsy picture... but At's bright smile!

Big A, Nu, and I (and Scout and Huck) had fun decorating the table and making a "boozy" dinner (ravioli in vodka marinara, bourbon-blackened salmon and veggies, Bananas Foster), looking at old At baby pictures, and celebrating the fiercely compassionate, delightfully mellow, and cheekily erudite firstborn. He loved all his presents--the party planning essentials, the new Michael Yates book, cheese aficionado tools, and our big spend--the Dyson hot/cold fan/air purifier thing he can take to his bedroom now and dorm/first apartment etc. later.

At had originally (months ago) wanted to have a family dinner and go out to a bar with friends, but modified his plans to a Zoom "Conspiracy Theory Party" because of the lockdown. I heard him kind of cackling long after midnight, so I think that part went well too.

😍🥰😍😘🥰😍 

Once upon a time

I'm not great with numbers, but every calendar I consult infers that this baby was born 21 years ago (tomorrow).  It sounds like a long, long time ago, and yet feels like it all happened in the spaces between one hug and the next.

And with At, there're always LOTS of hugs. 

This is Us

Sparty wears a mask; be like Sparty!
(MSU Stadium on Monday 4/27)

While Lansing didn't get the volume of Covid cases predicted, Big A has been seeing patients in the E.D. and has been self-isolating. This article--"What the Pandemic is doing to the Children of Doctors and Nurses" (and children of other frontline workers: grocery, mail, sanitation, transport, etc. too, I daresay!) posted by ND, Big A's NYU batch-mate, really struck a nerve. 

I mean this... is literally us:
"Some health-care workers have moved away from their families, and many others have isolated in spare bedrooms or basements, trying to explain to their kids that they can no longer hug them because the consequences of even a single touch could be dire."