Day 103- June 23, 2020

Day 103- June 23, 2020

Today I did something with the girls that my dad did with me and my sister- I drove around with Freebird blasting out of the car stereo.  When I was about 16, we were driving home from my grandparent's house in Passaic, and I remember being in Hawthorne when the first guitar licks started.  My dad was cruising along in his purple (he thought "eggplant" meant black- it didn't- he was color blind, so all dark colors looked the same to him) Infiniti, a car that was a "company car" for his lawfirm, and he turned up the volume, explaining to my sister and me that this was one of the most epic songs ever performed.  It was 21 minutes, and you had to listen to the whole thing.  I just remember looking out the window, my hair whipping me in the face, my hand swimming in the wind, and thinking "this is the greatest song I've ever heard."  We giggled through it at my dad's enthusiasm, and his insistence that we take a long-cut home so we could hear the entire thing.   I've heard the song hundreds of times since, and every single one takes me back.

So of course, I did what I had to when Freebird came on: cranked the volume, and told the girls that we absolutely needed to bop along with the groovy music.  The windows were rolled down (despite the extreme heat), E. and R. obliged, and Freebird has thus taken hold of another generation.  

Today was also the first day of soccer practice for E.  She hasn't seen her teammates in person since March, except on Zoom calls (a poor substitute for real practices, but the best we had given the circumstances, and at least it meant the kids were getting footwork in.  E. is a little disappointed, because we are still in "no contact" mode, meaning no small sides games, no one vs. one work, and basically, just dribbling and working on little moves and skills.  It's not her favorite thing, she'd much rather be stealing the ball away and heading for goal, but she'll take it because it at least means soccer.  She also was happy because it means someone other than me was working with her, and she loves getting compliments on her skills from non-family members (she knows we think she's awesome).  She kept going on and on about how her coach had her demonstrate a move, and absolutely beamed with pride.  It's one of the first times in a long time that I've seen her this happy, and it's thrilling.

Sam's house is also done at this point, and goes on the market soon. I decided to stop by a local nursery and purchased impatiens to help with the curb appeal.  There's a flower box by the front door, and it looked bare with just woodchips in it.  A pop of color will hopefully be just what it needs to welcome people to the home, and help them fall in love with it.  

After we finished with the final touches (the photographer comes this week), Jeff and I were able to spend some quality time swimming, and enjoying rousing family games of Marco Polo with the girls.  We had to set some ground rules, like only in the shallow end, and no diving forward (lest we smack our faces on the side of the pool).  But it was good to take some time to just relax (as much as we could).