July Highlights

I’m on a roll! With these highlights from July, I’m almost caught up to real time.

The 4th

Guess who started off the month? Caleb did! Meagan and Chris decided at the last minute to make a trip up to the Lake, and Nicole brought up her friend Siera for the first time since pre-pandemic.

Caleb had a number of firsts on that trip including eating my mother’s Hungarian Beef (prepared by my brother), playing corn hole, and driving the boat. And he had his bazillionth time of being too cute for words.

His parents were kind of cute too.

And so were Siera and Nicole.

Fenway

My brother Dave asked my nephew Dave to get us Red Sox tickets from his brother-in-law Mike. Mike came through with VIP tickets and even got us out onto the field pre-game.

It was a beautiful day to be at Fenway. The game turned out to be one of the last good, exciting games the Red Sox have played this season. It was electric at Fenway. Though it was a little more subdued in the Yankees section where we were sitting.

Mike didn’t pitch that night because he had pitched the night before. If he had gotten in, I would have cheered for him because he is one of the nicest guys ever despite being a Yankee. He didn’t dance to Sweet Caroline at Dave and Liv’s wedding, but I try not to hold that against him. My heart broke for him, his mom and dad, and Dave and Liv when, a couple weeks later, we watched as he fractured his elbow throwing a pitch.

Lunch

Finally, we get to the lunch Dave and I had with my aunt and uncle that kicked off this summer summary. We had a great time talking about everyone in the family and watching old home videos they had managed to digitize. We watched my mother as a young teen carrying around her baby brother, pool parties that took place in Chelmsford when we were kids, and 80th birthday parties for Memere and Pepere that are 20 years old now.

That night I had a scratchy throat, and the next day I tested positive.

COVID

I happen to be married to a guy who is probably in the top 10% of people most worried about getting COVID. We had spent 24-7 with each other since well before I caught it and became contagious, but for the next few days, I stayed upstairs, and he stayed down. We would occasionally talk to each other over the loft wall.

Despite our living arrangement, I could tell I was still stressing him out. Which stressed me out. So when my brother’s plans changed and he headed to Maine for the weekend, I headed to the lake by myself.

Dave never got it. He tested twice just to be sure. This is the second time he has been in close quarters for an extended time with someone who has tested positive, and he hasn’t gotten it. I told him the CDC should study him.

Gosselin Vacation

After my nephew and I finished up our quarantines (I’m guessing we both caught it at Fenway), Dave and I helped my brother and his kids kick off their family vacation.

Saturday was spent boating and floating with Dave and Liv.

Sunday was spent babysitting TJ while the others boated and floated. I didn’t mind.

Moody Vacation

Technically our vacation started in July, but I will hold off and cover that in my next post.