To the Dads

This year’s Father Day weekend is not one I will probably forget anytime soon. As with everything during the times of Coronavirus, each is part bizarre and part special in its own way. We went into the weekend without any concrete plans; part my fault and part what every weekend has been like since the beginning of March. Plans or not, we had a great weekend celebrating Dadda and dads afar and celebrating the beginning of summer.

We started off with our Friday weekly happy hour with BBQ takeout from Cask and Trotter and an outdoor movie screening of Mary Poppins for Bryan the girls. We had our weekly pancakes Saturday morning and after a low key relaxing morning we took a nice long walk in the sun after Reese’s nap, came back home to make steaks and drink delicious Bourbon on the back deck and finished the night with ice cream.

Sunday morning presented the most special present yet; Reese sleeping into until nearly 9 am!!! The slow start on the weekend morning was wonderful and unexpected. We set out to pick up breakfast burritos from Agua Verde and enjoyed this pre-bike fuel in West Montlake Park, watching the boats go through The Cut and strolling along the waterfront waving to the boaters. We set back home so Bryan could do a million things to get us ready for a long bike ride.

I was going to be using Bryan’s old bike for the first time which meant that I had to learn how to ride with clip-in pedals with my new bike shoes, learn new brakes and handlebars, and learn how to shift on his bike. There was a whole lot of new and I was nervous about it all. I spent only about five minutes just before leaving on our ride practicing clipping in and out a few times and we were off. I did surprisingly well with all the newness, at least after the first two miles in. I never did fall though. Reese immediately fell asleep, as we expected her to do since we set out at 1 pm, planning this one through her nap time. She slept for the first 40 minutes, waking up after we had crossed the 520 floating bridge and had made our way through Kirkland on the eastside. We continued north until we hit the Sammammish River Trail and then heading back to the west, riding this along the north edge of Lake Washington before meeting up with the Burke-Gilman Trail to head back towards the U and eventually home. In total we biked 31 miles and kept a pretty good pace. We ran into some church friends about half way through and caught up with them, which is just so good to see someone you know these days. We took a break shortly after seeing them at a tiny little park that had a platform on the lake with a bench that we could enjoy our snacks, water, and watch Reese feed the ducks (she loved this!).

We got back home right around 5 pm and Reese was ready to try out her own bike in the backyard. She is still just a touch too short for it. We each took turns talking to our dads on the phone and then made a delicious Blue Apron dinner and watched Little Rascals before heading to bed. Definitely the highlight of the weekend was the bike ride and we are both feeling it today. But we also enjoyed a lot of good conversation which I feel is the most valuable present during these times.

Our social circle is slim these days and we both miss friends and family dearly, something neither of us are afraid to admit. It’s great to be outside and enjoy something that feels normal during this season but there is the looming anxiety and anger about the whole situation right now. I am so incredibly worried about the lack of caution and concern the country is taking towards the virus right now. I fear for those I love. I am desperate to get back to Michigan and don’t see that happening anytime soon considering the current circumstances and spread of infection we are seeing on the rise again. Why we can’t, in the present day, be a unified community on one dire issue and come together on this, have a leader safely lead us through this, and do what other countries have been able to do, baffles and infuriates me. I’ve cried too many times dreaming of being with family again and thinking of the time that we are wasting and the lives we are losing with our lackluster approach to all of this. I really hope that we can get this thing under control because I know that we all want to resume life as normal. I’m fully preparing myself for the rest of the summer being in quarantine.

Chelsea