Shimmer of Normal

Hello and welcome to the last Saturday of summer vacation here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is August 28th.

Actually, we do get one more Saturday in September before the yellow buses resume their routes, but August reaching its end is reason enough for pause and reflection.

Summer started out optimistically enough. Half of our family made the usual trek to the Czech Republic. Life marched on with plenty of milestone moments for the kids: the WAKWIR* learning how to drive, the Second Oldest finally a high school senior, and the Oldest successfully completing her first year of college and returning home to do her first summer internship. The Second Youngest learned how to wash dishes and take out the garbage. The Youngest learned how to ride a bike. Both littles spent the summer practicing Czech cursive. Duolingo was a winner at our house.

If I had to sum up summer in a word, it would have to be "friends." Thanks to the pandemic, friendships blossomed right in our neighborhood. Other little people came over almost daily to play with our little people. The teen boys' lives revolved around girlfriends and especially graduated friends who took top priority for free time as the days ticked down to their inevitable blast off for college. The Oldest reconnected with high school friends but mostly missed her college friends and counted down her own blast off days until she would return to her college normal.

That's another word that described summer: normal. It all felt normal.

With everyone vaccinated who can be in our household, it felt both liberating and celebratory to reconnect with our community and friends. No masks. Smiling faces. Even hugs! Friends traveled to visit us. I traveled to visit friends. Martinis in Merrifield. Coffee in Portland. Dinner in Seattle. Pancakes in Connecticut. In-person book club. With each synapsis of friendship reattaching, came a content affirmation that, yes, we were experiencing a reemergence of life. And it felt so good.

Then the Delta variant was announced. And spread. Daily newscasts report rapid upticks in infections largely in those who are unvaccinated which include children. And I think of my children and all those under twelve who can't be vaccinated and the mirage of normal loses its shimmer. And it feels so sad.

Yet, all around me, people move through time and space unfazed, insistent that normal is back and here to stay. In-person only options for school, masks "recommended in school, but not required." No mention of social distancing. Just today the Athletic Director shared in an email, "The atmosphere will look like normal as we will have a concession stand and several entry points to get into the gym or the football field." 

As for me, I hold my breath while the fledgling, half-constructed facade of normalcy sits still in these final days before school starts. I've done all the "normal" things such as signing sons up for sports and getting sports physicals taken care of. I bought all the kids' school supplies today online. The kids seem to be accepting the winding down of summer and gearing up for their new classes and teachers. I have a senior who would like to have all the experiences his sister missed during her senior year in 2020 and a soon-to-be 10th grader who now knows that distance learning is absolutely his kryptonite. I have a lot of work sitting on my desk waiting for me while I tend to last-minute summer duties, not to mention an awesome writing retreat to finish prepping for. 

Yet, despite my normally high levels of optimism, with a vaccination rate of only 46% in Wannaska country, I am on edge and anticipate the whole thing crumbling in a matter of weeks. If schools in Georgia and Arizona can close after mere days, how long will it take for the same to happen here in rural, end-of-the-earth Wannaska? Weeks? Months?

I hope I'm wrong. I want to be wrong. I would be happy to have a friend slap me on the back in a month and say goodnaturedly, "See? I told you so. Everything's back to normal." 

On This Day

Historic Highlights (credits)

1963 - Martin Luther King Makes His "I Have a Dream" Speech

The historic speech that was a call to end racism in the United States was given in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington, a political rally organized by human and political rights groups. Over 200,000 people gathered in Washington DC to demand jobs and equality for African-Americans. The I Have a Dream speech by Dr. King became a symbol of the American civil rights movement and is one of the most recognizable speeches in recorded history.

1963 - Evergreen Bridge Opens for Traffic for the First Time

The longest floating bridge in the world, the Evergreen Point Bridge or the Governor Albert D. Rosellini Bridge, is on Route 520 in the state of Washington. It is built on Lake Washington and connects Seattle with the city of Medina. The bridge is 4,750 meters long, half of which is over the water.

1955 - Emmett Till is Murdered in Mississippi

The 14-year old African-American boy was brutally killed by white men after he was allegedly reported to have flirted with a white woman a day before. Till, who was from Chicago, was visiting family in Money, Mississippi, when he was kidnapped, mutilated, and his body dumped into the river.

1937 - Toyota Motor Corporation is Formed

The car company was first founded in 1933 as a subsidiary of the Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, Ltd. The division was headed by Kiichiro Toyoda, the son of the Toyota founder, Sakichi Toyoda.

1845 - First Issue of Scientific American hits the newsstands

The science magazine was founded by American inventor and artist Rufus M. Porter. The magazine began as a weekly newsletter and is now the oldest continuously published magazine in the United States.

Happy Birthday to You!🎶 

1986 - Gilad Shalit, Israeli soldier

1965 - Shania Twain, Canadian singer-songwriter

1943 - Surayud Chulanont, Thai politician, 24th Prime Minister of Thailand

1913 - Lindsay Hassett, Australian cricketer

1749 - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer, scientist

Remembering You

1990 - Willy Vandersteen, Belgian writer, illustrator

1987 - John Huston, American director

1955 - Emmett Till, American murder victim

1903 - Frederick Law Olmsted, American journalist, landscape designer, co-designed Central Park

430 - Augustine of Hippo, Algerian bishop, theologian

Be safe and make it a great Saturday!

Kim