A Return to Four Days a Week

 We found out over Christmas break that Bethany had decided that since they had had no COVID outbreaks at school that they would return to having in person class four days a week beginning January 19th.  When I first told Cameron, he looked at me with a face of disgust.  I asked him if he liked virtual learning better.  He said, "No, it's just the thought of school in general."  I was sure that he wasn't the only teenager feeling that way, but he did warm up to the idea of going back when he realized that at least he would be able to see his friends.    

I was happy for him as we had come to realize that spending an inordinate amount of time at home since November had become a drag for Cameron.  Thankfully, he was able to take tennis lessons, play in a tennis tournament and work on driver's education during that time period.  The weather had also been pretty mild this winter, so at least he could go outside.  Meg had been around so there was someone who was at least competitive to play Mario Kart against and he had received a new Madden game to yell at on a nightly basis.  Even with all of those activities it was time to get back into a more normalized routine.  As much as we enjoyed having Cameron at home, we were glad for him as he would at least get a break from us.

Cause for Concern

 When the mask mandate was first introduced in Indiana in July several of my friends and family members were all over Facebook complaining about their civil liberties being taken away.  Shortly after that there were protests around the state mirroring those ongoing in the country.  Since I believed from the start that masks were an important part of slowing the spread of the virus, I didn't really follow any of their posts or join in their complaints.

Fast forward to this past week and for the first time since the pandemic has started I have become concerned.  Although I still strongly believe in masks mandates and wish there was more enforcement of them, the decisions made since the riots at the Capitol building have made me rethink my thought on personal freedoms.  For the past few months Facebook and Twitter had been censoring or removing tweets that they felt were inaccurate.  I could see why they felt the need to do that as there was a lot of misinformation spread through social media. This past week, however, they actually blocked users that they did not politically agree with their posts or tweets.  Google Play, Apple and Amazon in turn removed a new social media app, Parler, from their platforms as they felt it was dominated with right wing Republican users.  The House Speaker also announced that any member of the House that did not properly go through security would be fined $5000.  Even PBS got involved when one of their attorneys stated publicly that "all children of Pro-Trump supporters would have to go through re-education training after his presidency."  

All of these acts scared me a little bit.  I do not want a national government that constantly maintains surveillance over its citizens.  It reminded me of the movie Enemy of the State and the amount of control the United States government had over its people in the film.  The plot seemed a little farfetched at the time, but maybe not quite as much as I thought.  Either way the last lines of the film stuck in my head today.  Congressman Sam Albert : [on TV] "We knew that we had to monitor our enemies. We've also come to realize that we need to monitor the people who are monitoring them.".. Carla Dean : "Well, who's gonna monitor the monitors of the monitors?"  I couldn't have said it better myself.  

A Vacation for the Ages

 A year ago this week the six of us spent six days together as a family in Walt Disney World.  It was definitely one of my favorite vacations.  We stayed together in a club suite at the Boardwalk Inn everyone's favorite Disney hotel.  As always it was nice to have food and beverages included in the room charges with a lounge to eat, drink and relax in during the stay.  Cal was the most impressed with the hotel as he hadn't been to Disney World since 2012.  Thus, he had forgotten all of the extra amenities and it's walking paths to EPCOT and Hollywood Studios.  It was definitely easy to see why Meg had adopted the slogan "Boardwalk for Life." 

While in Walt Disney World all of us thoroughly enjoyed visiting the parks, trying the different foods in EPCOT's world showcase, traveling on the new sky liners, playing miniature golf, shopping, exploring the new Star Wars land and having drinks at Oga's Cantina.  There were several new rides since Brett and Cal's last visit and we had fun introducing the two of them to these.  The Heinisch children were even able to secure passes to the biggest ride in Disney World to date- Rise of the Resistance.  They absolutely loved the new Star Wars based thrill ride.  It was so much fun to hear them talk about it and I felt incredibly blessed that all of our children chose to spend the week with us.  

On the last day of our trip Doug and Cam's flight was cancelled.  An ensuing issue with their luggage check in made it impossible for them to easily switch flights over the phone.  Thus, they had to leave Animal Kingdom early to catch a ride to Orlando International to secure an outbound flight.  Fortunately they made it home, with only the inconvenience for Doug and I the next morning of having to drive to O'Hare to retrieve the lost luggage and Doug's vehicle.  Before Doug left for the airport in Florida I heard him say to the Heinisch children - "Don't let this ruin anything.  It was a wonderful vacation with a bad ending."  Little did we know that his words would ring true for the rest of 2020 as well.  

Another Weekend, Another Puzzle

 I had given Doug a "I Love the 80s" puzzle by White Mountain for Christmas.  It was fun to put together and a nice break from some of the more challenging ones that we had worked on recently.  It actually only took us a few days to finish.  I thought when I purchased it that Doug and I would really enjoy reminiscing about life in the 1980s as we had both come of age during that decade.  The more time we spent on the puzzle, however, the more we both realized that there just wasn't a lot during that time period that still interested us.  Madonna, Dallas, Cabbage Patch Kids, Walkmans were all a large part of the entertainment world during the 1980s, but weren't really relevant anymore.  In retrospect I believe that I should have gotten him a puzzle from the 1970s.  I think Doug and I appreciate that decade a little more and I know that we have introduced the Heinisch children to a lot more music and television shows from that era Whether it was our favorite puzzle or not, it was still enjoyable to work on it together and was a nice diversion from all of the football that we watched this past weekend.

Dream, Dream, Dream . . .

I dream a lot or at least I remember my dreams quite often.  In general they have been vivid, real to life and I can explain them in detail to others the next day.  In fact there have been times they have seemed so real that I had to remind myself in the morning that my vision was only a dream.  When I was younger, I thought that everyone was the same as me.  After talking to family and friends I have come to realize that everyone dreams differently.  Some have told me that they do not ever remember dreaming, others only occasionally, and then a few tend to be more like me recalling every dream as if they were watching a movie.

Intertwined with all of the dreams that I have had, there have been a few that have reached the status of "recurring dreams."  The first one that I remember revolved around snakes.  In it a snake would come up and bite my hands or feet.  I believe that it occurred most often after I had seen a television show or movie that focused on the reptile.  In college and several years afterward I would dream that I had a final and hadn't been to class all semester.  I assumed that was become I felt unprepared at times during my education.  The strangest recurring dream that I have had revolved around knocking.  I would hear someone knocking so loudly on our front door that it would wake me out of a dead sleep.  I would run to the front door and no one would be there.  I started to ignore the dream when I woke up and it began to change.  I would instead hear someone knocking on my bed frame or bedroom wall.  It was so loud and close to me that I would wake up with a start and have a harder time falling asleep afterward.

My most recent recurring dream recently obviously stems from the pandemic.  In it I am always with a large group of people and no one is wearing a mask.  When this type of dream first began I was always starting a new job.  In the middle of training I would look around and see that no one was wearing a mask.  Shortly afterward, I would realize that I had forgotten to bring one with me.   This dream has changed over the last month.  I am still in a group of non-mask wearers without one myself, but lately everyone around me graduated from high school with me.  I find this recurring dream most interesting as those in my dream aren't people that still live in the area.  I am also a strict mask wearer, so there would be no way I would forget to wear or at least bring a mask with me wherever I go.  This is definitely a dream that makes me panic and I have to remind myself in the morning that it did not happen.  Hopefully, this one will stop once we get vaccinated.  It's hard enough to live in an area where many individuals chose not to wear masks.  I definitely don't need to think about it in my sleep as well. 

Are You Ready for Some Football

 The NFL playoffs began today and the games dominated the Heinisch family televisions for the majority of the day.  The first one was the closest with the Colts losing by a field goal to the Bills.  As everyone liked both teams, it wasn't too disappointing.  The game that most thought would be a nail biter was a bust as the Rams easily beat the Seahawks.  It was the biggest upset of the day and the one that we paid attention to the least.  The night game held the most interest to the football fans in our family.  No one had been a Tampa Bay fan in previous years, but with Tom Brady as quarterback everyone was cheering them on this season.  The game was closer than Doug or Cal would have liked, but in the end the Bucs won 31-23.  Tomorrow will bring three more games to watch and the most anticipated one of the weekend as the Bears take on the New Orleans Saints.  The sports media has spent a lot of time this year talking about Mitch Trubisky losing his starting role as quarterback to Nick Foles and then regaining the spot.  That along with the rumor that this will be Drew Breese's last year has made for a much hyped up game.  Doug fully expects the Saints to win, but we'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out.  

Financial Independence.

 Cal and Brett both signed up for their company's 401K program today.  Each gets up to a 3% match which Doug thought was great.  I was excited for both of them as they had worked hard this year to save money while also enjoying life. It was definitely a big step for each in their bid for financial independence.  Brett realized it as well and texted me earlier in the week to thank me for helping him set up a budget.  It had benefitted him tremendously in 2020 and with it he was able to set a goal of paying off his CRV in two years instead of five.  Cal didn't need as much advice as he had always been a saver.  He had used his excess cash for investments even when he was only working part time.  I was glad to have helped Brett over the years with budgeting and was pleased that we could give Cal a place to live currently so that he could save money for the future.

Hearing their excitement about retirement planning made me think back to our first few years after graduating from college.  Doug lived at home and had to pay rent.  He was given his car insurance bill immediately upon returning home.  Although neither of us had any debt it was challenging to save for a wedding, our first home and starting a family with outside expenditures accumulating.  It would have been nice to have a year or so of very little expenses to be able to save for the future.  In the end we made it work, but because of our experience, we made a goal of helping the Heinisch children become financially independent the first year after graduating from college whether through budgeting or paying for added expenses that we were able to absorb.  This year they will both take on their car insurance payments and phone bills, but they were prepared for these expenditures.  We plan to help Cam and Meg in the same manner.  We may not have a huge inheritance to give them one day, but they shouldn't need it as they have been given a wonderful start to life outside of the Heinisch home.