Tuesday was another busy one on the work front. Another presentation to give, and more prep for a big meeting I’m Zoom hosting later this week. In the old days, I’d say “Well, being busy makes the days go faster!” I suppose that’s still true, but that feels a lot less desirable when time feels mushy and I can scarcely remember what day of the week it is, much less which month it is.
It is 2020. That I remember. That part is quite memorable.
Anyway, in the afternoon I had to run to pick up a few things out in the world, and it occurred to me that I was going to be right over by the frozen yogurt place Amelia and I used to visit on “daddy-daughter dates” in the days before COVID.
The place is open with outdoor seating, and it had been a while since one of those daddy-daughter dates, so I asked Amelia if she wanted to have a quick outing. She was very enthusiastic about the idea, and so was I. I’d been meaning to carve out a little one-on-one time with Amelia for quite a while, and the days kept sliding by.
It was nice to take a little break and enjoy some time with my daughter. We masked up and went into the shop. It used to be self serve, but they had it set up now with distancing markers and the person behind the counter dispensing the yogurt, and adding the toppings for us.
The tables outside had little red and green blocks on them. The red side said “dirty” and the green side said “clean.” So when someone was done eating, they leave the table with the red side up, and when an employee disinfects it, he or she switches it to green.
It was a good set up, but Amelia did comment, “I like the way it used to be better.”
That is probably about the most succinct summary of the last 6 months as I can conjure. Amelia has a way of framing things.
Dispensing preference aside, we sat outside and had a really nice time together. It was hot outside, almost 100 degrees, but we chatted, at our yogurt, laughed and enjoyed each other’s company.
We got to talking about Weird Al and I played some songs for her on my phone. She laughed like I remembered laughing at his music when I was little.
It was fun, but at some point the heat got to us and it was time to get going. Back home, the AC was on and Erin and Henry were waiting for us. We made dinner and had a pretty low key evening, in out of the heat.
I checked in my parents and both are doing well. Dad keeps feeling a little better every day, and he is catching up on a documentary series about the Green Bay Packers. We had some laughs talking about the Dan Devine era. Glad to hear Dad in good spirits. Those were some tough years for Packers fans.
