Dadcation
For the past 25 months, we’ve worried about the process for going places, seeing new countries, and pivoting when new restrictions prohibit our visiting said countries, but what if we were to make it somewhere overseas, have a great spring break of exploration and relaxation, only to be prohibited from going home? The above hypothetical has been our family’s reality for the past 5 days. Here are a few ways we’ve coped adjusted: During our trips to Oslo, Tromsø, and Bergen, we used 2 or 3-bedroom Airbnbs in…
We pushed through a port-o-john door covered in stickers, walked past the urinals, and entered the hidden bar behind Bodega Taqueria for what I’d thought would be a quiet speakeasy like the ones we’ve visited in Denver, San Francisco, Austin, Atlanta, Rome, Paris, Kyoto, Boston, New York, Chicago, and San Antonio. Instead, it was a giant, warehouse-like enclosure with a DJ and dancing. It was a time warp to 2019. “We need to get out of here before we get the Covid!” We closed our tab (the place…
Summer 1995, I went to Lackland Air Force Base, Texas for 4 weeks of “Field Training,” which is like Basic Training, but for kids who are in ROTC. I was on a 4-year Air Force ROTC scholarship, and now I had to pay my pittance: we’d get hazed instructed by older ROTC cadets and some drill sergeants; each flight had an officer in charge, and ours was Major Wench. Major Wench wore glasses with aviator sunglasses frames and looked like he ran marathons for fun, but all I…
It happened when we were standing in line to see Pee-wee Herman. My mother-in-law’s Christmas present was VIP tickets to Pee-wee’s Big Adventure on its 35th anniversary plus a photo opportunity with Paul Reubens at Atlanta’s Tabernacle. The push notifications started: Fulton County schools, cancelled; the NCAA basketball tournament (that was to be played a few blocks from where we stood), not happening; Disneyland closed for the 4th time in 65 years; MLS, MLB, NBA, all done. It was time to start “social distancing.” Because of social distancing,…