COVID 19: The Journey. Chapter 9, Quiet Thanksgiving holiday

     

Kirstin, Baby Myla and Gage Rodewald, at Thanksgiving.

Me, Myla and Kirstin in an "all-girls' photo."

    The month of November was darn quiet among the Baker family, especially as two grandchildren tested positive for COVID-19.

    The tests were made known shortly before Thanksgiving. Rather than the 16-18 folks we normally host on the holiday we had 2.5 guests. These were daughter Kirstin, son-in-law Gage and Myla, almost two years old.

    This reality was in step with most Americans, it seems. Those we know, and others we read about, all had an unusually small holiday gathering.

    November started as it always does, with a birthday. Steve turned 70 years old and we safely celebrated at a Bettendorf establishment called Sports Fans Pizza. Jill and Kevin Hansen joined us; Steve's daughter Teiah and husband Mike were in quarantine that day.

    That same week we elder Bakers got new driver's licenses. This was a complicated affair, made more so by the pandemic. We gathered many documents together and actually had made the appointments two months ago. It had been a few years since we'd been to the site in Davenport and it has moved. 

    We thus tried not to fight as we searched for the facility. It's in back of a shopping mall so not so visible as it was previously.

    Going in, we were behind a long line (surprise!) Each chair is set six feet apart and there were about two seats left. We waited 45 minutes or so, and then were allowed to approach the requisite desk together. Steve's documents checked out perfectly but it turned out mine was missing a COMPLETE Social Security number. I had the last 4 digits in a few places.

    This was NOT GOOD ENOUGH. So I was given marching orders, asked to bring additional documents the next day. I did so and got my license renewed.

    The positive news is that the current license is good for eight years and will work for security on airplanes, when it's safe enough to travel by air.

    Our neighborhood book club was by Zoom for the first time. I'm guessing that will be the form of meeting, going forward. I also led a quarterly neighborhood meeting by Zoom.

    I finished the fall house-cleaning before Thanksgiving, and we watched a lot of football on television. My family is so kind to me: Both Iowa and Iowa State often play at the same time of day. Steve would take newsprint and cover the bottom of the television so he could not see the total screen. We then watched the Iowa State game, and taped the Iowa games.

  As most Iowans know, Iowa State is having a historically good season and played for the conference championship on Dec. 19 but lost by six points to perennial champion, Oklahoma. My family realizes I am passionate about this topic and are thus kind and accommodating.

    The month ended with another visit to Best Buy, as this MacBook Air was acting up. It took two visits, total, but I'm back in business when it comes to blogging. We also finished most Christmas gift-buying online before Dec. 1. Ah, the holidays ....