After several online shopping sessions plus a marathon hottest-day-ever shopping trip yesterday in a car with no air conditioning (ugh!), I am mostly done with back-to-school shopping. Today I purchased some KN95 masks. I wish I had thought to order them earlier. We’d gotten so used to wearing cloth masks that it didn’t immediately occur to me to buy something different. But, given how contagious Delta is and how uncomfortable cloth masks are, the KN95’s will probably be a lot better. I hope they will arrive soon. In the meantime, we have plenty of cloth masks, all washed and ready to wear.
Over the weekend, I should…
- Find all the lunch containers, water bottles, and freezer packs, and make sure they’re clean and ready to use.
- Plan out a lunch menu with Livia (and Marshall, if he’s interested), then go to the grocery store to buy anything we need.
- Wash the kids’ new clothes.
- Consider a trip to the shoe store. It needs to be done eventually, but I will put it off for a few more weeks if I can. It all depends on Livia’s sneakers, which she says are starting to break down. I’ll take a look at them, then decide.
The hardest thing left to do is to prepare myself mentally, physically, and emotionally for the coming week. I am not happy about the kids returning to school under these circumstances. It would be easier if we lived in the South, because then we’d know to keep our children home. It would also be easier if we lived in, say, Vermont, where vaccination rates are higher, because then we’d feel safer about sending them to school. Here it feels like a crapshoot. And while that is my biggest concern, I have to admit that I am also not looking forward to the early mornings. The adjustment will be painful.
At least the kids are excited to return. I asked Marshall what about school he was most looking forward to, and he said, “Not being stuck at home all the time.” Amen to that.