It has been five days since we returned from New Orleans. Five days of quarantine other than a contactless pick up of groceries and a trip to the doctor because of a swollen foot (I feel like that chubby Victorian guy in every Victorian novel suffering from gout). For the past two days, Lydia has focused on All of the Christmas duties deferred while we traveled. She’s gotten the Christmas letter composed and stuffed in cards and decorated until, in her words, “It looks like Santa threw up.” I baked for most of the morning and early afternoon and left a box of the cookies on the porch for Josh to grab when he left the prescription the doctor ordered. We’ve had the music channel on all day, listening to holiday music.

Since we are in quarantine, it has just been the two of us here, though that is the case for most days. Still, it somehow has felt like a step back in time. As a kid I remember having the radio on during the day and not having a television at all. I remember my father listening to The Cisco Kid, while he ironed his police uniforms. I remember my mother singing along to current songs while she did dishes or, cleaned the house. At Christmas time, the songs she sang along to, were the same songs we have been listening to all day.

Christmas is like a time capsule, bringing back thoughts and memories of a different time, a different life. It is easy to feel nostalgic about those times and the people we once were, but we were children and, with grace, were innocent of the vagaries of the adult world. I wasn’t aware of the grim details of my father’s life as a small-town cop or, the struggles to support a family on a cop’s pay. (I remember being embarrassed when my mother went to work rather than staying home like my friends’ moms). My biggest worry was what my dad would say when my sister and I knocked over the Christmas tree playing tag. My mother was heart broken at the loss of some of her most favorite ornaments. I do not remember the punishment, only how horrible I felt.

At any rate, it is just the two of us until after Christmas. We will Skype or Zoom with both kids and their families but, it will be just Lydia and I at the table. And that’s ok. We started this family with just the two of us and so we will toast each other and our far away family and friends and enjoy a meal together, like old times. It will be great in a quiet way. We love each other but, more importantly, we like each other too.

Blessings from our home to yours. Be well. Be safe.

The Road