Shots! Shots! Shots!

The announcement came yesterday that kids’ vaccines are all but greenlit at this point - I believe there’s some more signing off to do, but in a rush, suddenly appointments became available for kids. I didn’t think doses would be available until next week, so I booked two through Walgreen’s for next Friday, just three days short of the cut off to travel to Hawaii in December. So unless things change or go wrong between now and Dec 3rd, their second shot, we should be able to get on that plane without any testing requirements or issues. It’s a huge relief. I was not looking forward to white knuckling those test results just a day or two before our flight.

This is a huge step forward to the end. I imagine school procedures will stay the same - still masks, still downloading daily pass and having to walk the kids to the gate with my phone - but this is the path towards being truly free of this thing. And there’s less worry about being a family in a dangerous social situation or bringing covid home to unvaccinated kids. It’s a big deal.

We applied for the F’s passport yesterday. Even the postal worker couldn’t believe he’d never had a passport before. I’m so excited for what this means for our future. At some point next year after the backlog is handled I’ll get the kids theirs, too. I can’t wait to have little world travelers!

Our issue with the venue we had to drop out of actually went better than I’d anticipated - while they still held to their policy of not checking vaccine status, it was clear that the person we deal with most was not in agreement with this policy and wants to continue to have a relationship with us after this is all over. So thankfully no bridges burned, and we’re putting on a small invite only event instead that will at least get our musicians paid. Personally I’d rather go to the desert next weekend, but there you have it. Duty calls. 

We have lots - and I mean lots - of gigs in December. I’m working every weekend, and the first weekend every night. We’re even working New Year’s Eve, which is a first in several years since my bandleader started getting hired at an event in NC with another singer (harrumph). All of this impinges on my ability to be in my shack in silence in the desert which is all I really care about. Even though I have no reason to think we will one day have a completed cabin - my contractor is still delaying week by week; right now he’s promising to be done by Thanksgiving, but who knows - I’ve found myself planning for it and thinking about it a lot lately. I hope it’s all I’m picturing. My worst fear is starting to use the place and coming to the unpleasant realization that I just don’t like being out there. However, I think that’s unlikely. Every time I go to the desert I feel instantly relaxed and comfortable - I love the crazy hot winds and endless vistas and ringing silence. It will only get better when the day comes when we can afford ATV’s to scoot around on. I can just picture my dusty tanned desert rat teenaged sons having a blast exploring out there. It’s really going to dramatically change our lives when we have this new place to be every few weeks, our second home. I’m very much looking forward to it; it’s so close I can taste it.