Ehlana and Ethan:
Our day has been fairly-uneventful; so we
can cover that part of our update quickly.
Tai Chi was by the river; we had an easy-breakfast; home-church time;
and then some quiet time and a few chores around the house until
lunchtime. Our afternoon fun included a
canoe ride and biking on the trails with family and best friends; a barbeque
dinner; and a quiet evening that’s ending early so that we can get up and see
Dad off on his short trip to the city.
In other news from around town; we’ll start
with Reid and Lily’s wedding; since we should have written a bit about that
even though we weren’t involved at all.
They are high school friends of Cassie’s and Michael’s; so the virus
restrictions affected the wedding because they had to cut back on the number of
guests they could have at the church and then the reception dinner at the
Inn. That’s why they only had their best
friends and only some of their family with them for the ceremony and
celebration. The ceremony was streamed
on the town network too and recorded for later viewing, but while that’s
interesting; it just isn’t the same as being there.
That wedding also links to other issues –
at that’s also why we didn’t have a church service again this week because
there are issues they’re still working out before our Pastors feel confident that
everyone will be safe with larger gatherings.
There seem to be a lot of people that wouldn’t agree with that caution,
but there have been some serious outbreaks at churches; so we’ll stick with the
plan to worry about our collective health over economic and social
sacrifices. Business is still a real
issue – or lack of it; and Reid and Lily’s reception at the Inn is one small
example of that as Michael’s parents, brother, and sister-in-law keep the Inn
open with less than a quarter of the normal business – and less than that for
the hotel rooms side of their business.
We have and haven’t been helping out with
that problem. They can only take a
limited number of customers at a time; so we’re not going there for meals
because there is demand for those spots at most meal-times. That only helps a few of our neighbors with
enjoying a dinner-entertainment opportunity, but won’t help Michael’s family;
since what they really need most is the ability to open up to full-capacity
again. All of the businesses in town
need that too, but we won’t be getting there as quickly as we’d all like; so
this could prove to be a tough summer for our town – even if we don’t get a
single case of coronavirus. That, by the
way, is statistically-unlikely in the longer-term, but that doesn’t mean that
we should go out of our way to increase those risks.
That, by the way, brings up something we’ve
talked about a few times now – at what level are travel restrictions too
much? Most countries are currently
restricting travel to-and-from other countries.
Nobody really argues with that, but the same could be done for regions
within a country – between States here in our country; and that could be true
on the micro level. We’re not suggesting
putting up barricades around our town, but that really isn’t different than
closing travel between countries – and would be just as effective for
controlling the spread of the virus.
That actually has happened in other countries, but we think that the
costs are too-high; and there are other options; like getting everyone to wear
masks while in public and near other people.
That doesn’t work for everything – with restaurants being an example of
that; since it is really hard to eat dinner while wearing a mask.
We’re dragging that out too-much; and all
we’re really suggesting is that there’s no easy answer for dealing with a
pandemic that could take years to run its course. That’s a bit sobering, but we don’t really
have a choice than to do our best to deal with these challenges. How we do that is important, so to try and
end this update on a happier note; we’ll point out that our lives are still
filled with love and joy; and it’s okay to have happiness during the tough
times – and maybe that’s when those moments are most-important.
We’ve made a lot of happy memories this
weekend, so even though our socially-distanced adventures aren’t as exciting as
they might be in normal times; so we’re thankful for all of the blessing we
have here in our amazing little town.
That’s a much-nicer wrap-up for this
report; so we’ll quit while we’re ahead; and move on to nap time so that we’ll
be ready for the early wake-up call in the morning.
This is Ehlana and Ethan Proctor; live from
the hidden home of the Magi of the Light – and May the Magi Force be with you!
