The Blog

We parked across the street in the same spot that I had parked in for years. We walked in the same door. We were greeted by the same friend We sat at the same table. We ordered the same food. The kids woke up before 0600 to get there before anyone else, we wore masks when we walked in and until our food was served, and we couldn’t see Darlene’s smile when we arrived, because she was masked too (although her excitement was palpable, nonetheless). Even still, it was the best breakfast that we’d had in months.

An ongoing photo essay exploring how the life of one family is impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, through the eyes of a socially-distanced father.

Keith continues to go to work as he always has. He just stands a little farther from his patients now. At home, he is staying away from the family and keeping any potential germs to himself. He will sit at the far end of the 8-person table for dinners and sit in a folding chair on the opposite side of the room (away from the rest of the family) to watch family movies or television before bed at night. Otherwise, he is confined to his office, where no one else is allowed. Christine is staying at home. Schools are closed and no families want her to visit for therapy, which is a good thing … she didn’t want to work anyway. She is a full-time mom again. No more spin classes. No more training with her friends. Exercise consists of a run with Adeline, spinning on her cycling trainer in […]

Austin accompanied a small group of students to complete a demonstration and teach a Tae Kwon Do class to a local summer camp on Friday. On Saturday morning, Mister Cooper, his instructor, approached Keith: “I gotta tell you something. Yesterday, I was approached by a woman at the camp that Austin was helping at and she complimented me on the maturity of my students and how great they were – and they were. They were awesome. By the end, every kid was bowing, saying thank you in Korean, and they each broke a board. It was awesome. – So anyway, she was complimenting me on the students and she pointed at Austin and asks for his name, and I tell her, ‘That’s Austin,’ and she tells me how great he was working with a boy there who was autistic and how he was so empathetic. At one point, the boy […]

Austin is pet-sitting this week, riding his bike to a friend’s house to tend to their dog and cat. Last night, Austin sent Keith the following video, with a message that read: “Is this normal for an old cat? Please listen to this with the volume up.” If you turn the volume up you’ll hear a cat purring. Austin lived with a cat for the first 10 years of his life, yet he had not heard what purring sounded like until yesterday. Says a bit about Moxy, huh?

There was a time when we would go for walks as a family. Almost every weekend we would go to Green Lakes and walk the trails, until Victoria outgrew her stroller. Then she had to walk, and her walking meant that we were going to hear her complain, and it has been a while since we revisited that family activity. Nowadays, we’re busy. The kids are at swimming lessons on Mondays and taekwondo on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturday mornings. Christine is triathlon training. Keith is … well … he’s working on doing something. But there isn’t a lot that we do together. The kids do their things, the parents do theirs. This summer that will change … hopefully. This week, we purchased Austin his first road cycle. Victoria has now inherited his mountain bike. Until now and for the last 5 years, Austin and Victoria have been riding to the […]