Five months in one post! I'll be skimming the surface, with maybe a few details if I happened to take a picture (but I was as neglectful about that as I have been about keeping up here!) It seems if there was ever a year my posterity would like to read about, it would be 2020! Oh well.
Aside from a pandemic, an earthquake and a severe wind storm that took down a good portion of sizable trees here in Salt Lake, Black Lives Matter protests, and a country deeply divided and contentious about just about everything from whether or not one should wear a mask to what it means to be an American, we had an election that heightened all the tension from the year. I'm still not sure who is president, really! Given Geoff and I have removed ourselves from party affiliation, as we agree and disagree with both sides, it has been fascinating to watch the contradictions, misunderstanding, anger, stubbornness, hard heartedness, and emotion of all of the issues of our time. Given that we have stepped out of the fray, I feel we have maintained some peace and perspective that we are very grateful for at this time in the history of our country. In that regard we were merely warmed, not burned, by the heat this year. Tennie, Adele and Ceci remain thoughtful and observant as they form their own opinions. It is a very confusing time to figure out where one stands on issues!
Ok, I'll go person by person, starting with myself. The fall was super busy with foot zoning classes and studying and practicing. It took most of my focus. Early in November I had a 2-day written test, and last week I took a practical test. I attended a fall conference and some advanced classes, along with my regular classes, and I am astounded at all that I've learned! I completed 100 hours of practice last week. I am official! I am really grateful to have pushed myself to learn something new, to challenge my mind and engage in personal interests. It has been really good for me.
In September I went with a group of women to a retreat in Sedona, Arizona where we meditated on the vortexes and explored the beautiful area. I made new friends and learned good things about myself. Other than that, I have mostly been at home.
Geoff has been working 100% from home and will through June, at least. He loves it, although he has found starting a new job more challenging than he anticipated when there isn't in-person interaction. There have been some bumps in the road, but he continues to be excited about the potential of his organization. Mostly, though, his head has been down working these past 5 months.
He has taken to a nightly walk to clear his head and loves it. We continued to ride bikes until just a couple weeks ago when the air quality got too bad, and we've hunkered down for the winter months taking advantage of our apartment building's gym.
Tennie moved to Provo in the fall and is pretty much quarantining with her six roommates in a house east of campus. This fall she was accepted to the Journalism program, finished up her Sociology minor and continues to work really hard at her Arabic minor, which is very rigorous at BYU. She is one busy student! All classes, except an Arabic lab twice per week, have been online. She's had a job in a graduate program office, which she could do from home, where she mostly answered emails. It is a hard age to have this quarantining life. It is a time of life to have the time of your life (as Geoff's mom used to say), and that isn't the case for these cute college-aged kids, or any kids for that matter.
The New School held only online classes for fall semester, and the dorms were only open to a few students, so Adele remained at home. She managed to make friends as well as one can during her Zoom classes. Everyone seemed eager to connect with one another. She jumped in to her first year of liberal arts study and did remarkably well! While classes will continue to be virtual in the new year, the dorms have opened up to allow freshmen to move in, so off to New York she will go in January!
Ceci's schooling has been 100% online too. Her Zoom classes are more demanding than when they were in person, or it could be that she has cranked through a lot of hard classes her first years...she is on target to graduate after her junior year! She works hard all day, every day of the week. I admire her diligence. I marvel that all three of our girls have fully taken responsibility to get their work done. Not once have we reminded them about homework! I count my lucky stars. Thankfully Adele and Ceci have had each other. They have become the closest of friends, studying together, hanging out in the evenings, taking breaks for "frozen treat", as in, "Time for frozen treat!" (an ice cream cone), going on walks up the canyon and showing great love for each other. Ceci is really dreading Adele's move, with good reason. Her climbing practices have resumed, so at least twice a week she climbs, and thankfully she has a good friend on the team. She has grown past all of the rest of us Davis girls! She is currently 5'7 and probably has a bit more to go.
Over the warmer, fall months we got together with family a few times, at parks, picking berries, and in backyards. We had Tate & Zoey's birthday and baptism, and TK's farewell and first temple visit. Now that the weather is colder and we are confined indoors, I miss those outings!
Ceci and Cam:
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