We Buy A New Bed

Due to the weirdness of this year, I have spent a lot of time in bed. Not because I am sick, but because I am working a lot and odd hours. We have a bed that is 29 years old. It was a very comfortable bed back in the day. Now, it is less so. Also when I roll over sometimes a spring pops out. The sheets are old, the pillows also old and the quilts we have slept with have great sentimental value (Kris's grandma made them) but they are almost threadbare. Also, it can't be too hygienic to have all those dead skin cells lurking in the mattress. Maybe there are enough cells to build an actual person living in our mattress.

Therefore to celebrate the fact that we have survived half of this crazy year and almost paid off the wedding... I took a slight pause from my ultra frugality and bought a new bed. I have devoted most of the money we have earned this year to paying off debt and being very careful about purchases. I made almost no purchases in March and April. Now that school is out and we are super bored we have made some Amazon buys of activity type things for our still basically house-bond teenager and also purchased a new King size Bed. I am grateful we are employed and can do this.

Also... The menfolk went on the annual boys fishing trip this weekend. This used to be Kris, his brothers and dad but is now Kris, his brother and his son in laws. We had Hailey, Brooke, Shelby and Jenny with us while they were away. I got to do some special snuggling of my little Jenny. She is very sweet. Hailey hadn't been home in a year so it was a nice weekend.

I have also been doing a lot of thinking about race and what it means to be a minority. I don't think we do this often enough. Our lives consist of our personal experiences and the things we feel deeply. As a white person I don't fear the police, or prejudice or hatred from my community. I have very little experience with minorities since I live in very small town and even growing up I was pretty much in a white community. Now I have a dear, dear friend who is African American. I love her very much. I watch her niece for her. When I think of the fear and life experiences that she has shared with me.. I realize that I know so very little and don't understand what she has faced in her experience.

And no the riots are not a good expression of how to make things better.. but we can't discount others experiences just because we disagree with the reaction to them.

This year has turned everything on it's head. It has made everything upside down. It has shown us that everything can change in a second, that nothing is for sure. That economies can topple that money and privilege and politics are useless against a virus and that what we think is important really isn't ....

It has exposed deep problems and divides. It has made us question the news, the news sources, the experts, the statistics and the response. I think it has made us all do one big collective eye roll.

It has made me dislike all politicians.. Democrats and Republicans alike. And it has made me distrust leaders and leadership in general. Especially powerful organizations that issue guidelines.. like the CDC and WHO.

I am grateful that for the most part the news and guidance we get from our prophet is positive and hopeful.

It really doesn't feel like June 1st. It feels like this year has been 1000 days long and yet not. I am ready for it to be past.

But meanwhile we will have a new bed.