School days, in-person life, Brothers Day, and lunch with a friend (7 Quick Takes)

~1~

After a mad scramble to get everything together for school, our boys started sixth and eighth grades in person on Monday! They are having a great time. As I knew it would be, it’s much less stressful to me now that it’s happening.

On the morning of the first day, I blessed them with holy water from the Shrine to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, Md. It felt good to turn some of this over to Elizabeth Ann Seton and ask her to pray for my children. She was a teacher and a mother, and she knows the impact illness can have on a family. I love being able to ask her to pray for us from heaven.

~2~

In some of the best news of the week, our sons’ back-to-school night was moved from an in-person experience to a virtual event. Virtual back-to-school night is truly one of the great wins of the pandemic. I am so excited to sit and eat and drink in the comfort of my home and watch two classes at once.

I should almost invite everyone I know to join me, but I suppose that would defeat the purpose. Instead, my mom friends and I will text our way through the evening.

I can’t wait.

~3~

After more than a year of working from home, I’m returning to work in an actual office more frequently, and I’m OK with that. I love working from home, but I don’t love working from an empty house—and our house is so quiet while the boys are at school. Even the finches are quieter without their boys around.

It’s funny what a strange transition this is. I think I prefer Zoom meetings to in-person meetings because I have trouble reading people’s faces through their masks. And I save so much time not having to travel between meetings. Still, I’m excited about in-person interaction, and now that our students will be back, I really look forward to being on campus.

I helped with our student move-in on Saturday morning, and I had the best time greeting people and welcoming them to campus. The school year really has begun.

~4~

Every year on the anniversary of the day our sons met each other, we celebrate Brothers Day. This year we marked 10 years since they met. Our tradition is that they give each other a gift, and they get to choose dinner.

The day fell apart a little this year because Brothers Day was the day the edges of Hurricane Ida came through. We spent part of the time in the basement with the birds during a tornado watch, and then I didn’t really want to go pick up dinner for them because of all the rain—though I finally did get dinner very late.

But they were dismissed from school three hours early because of the storms, and no one complained about that.

Sometimes people ask me whether they’re really brothers, and I always say, “They are now.” But brotherhood doesn’t get any more real than this. I’m so thankful they have each other.

~5~

The masks that have been working perfectly fine for us for errand-running and Mass are too hot for a full day of school, so I ran out to get more masks after the first school day. I went to the pharmacy because I figured those were worth a try, and I bought a few different kinds in hopes some would fit and be comfortable.

The pharmacy did not disappoint. The best part, though, was the sign advising us not to try on the disposable masks. I’m not sure what it says about humanity that we need such a sign, but here we are.

~6~

My friend Maureen left a bag of goodies for me at work when she retired last fall, and some of them are items she picked up on a work trip to China.

When I came across them at the office this week, I was delighted to see that some were metal bookmarks that are apparently from a Catholic college in China.

They even have a Bible verse with them. They’re so lovely.

I am thrilled whenever we can bring our love for our Catholic faith and Chinese culture together in our home.

~7~

Just a couple of weeks before the pandemic hit our area, I went to lunch with my friend Jaime, whom I’ve known since kindergarten. We have been in regular contact through the pandemic, but we finally got together this week for lunch at a similar sushi lunch to the one where we wondered aloud what this whole COVID thing was about and how much it would affect us—and our families.

Jaime is an artist and a writer—a true creative—and when we get together, we just have this beautiful synergy of ideas. I so, so admire her work, and she enthusiastically follows mine too. We both have a passion for what we do, but also a restlessness—in the best possible way—to evolve our work, too.

If you don’t have a Jaime in your life, I encourage you to find one.

Read more quick takes on Kelly’s blog, This Ain’t the Lyceum, where you can find the link to pre-order a copy of Kelly’s new book!

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