2019 Life Logs, Day 239: Focus on Family
Date: Tuesday, August 27, 2019
Weather: Mix of Sun and Clouds; High 77, Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Heather and family returned home from their vacation in Maine today and a tropical storm is headed for Puerto Rico, so the focus of my day was on family. Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco returned to Puerto Rico at the end of last week after more than a month’s absence. They were here for a week in July and then flew to England to be with Jo’s family for a month. Now, only a few days after their return to home, they are getting ready for the first named tropical storm to hit Puerto Rico this year. Two years ago they withstood two September hurricanes. As we all know, Hurricane Maria devastated the entire island. They are still recovering from that and thankfully last year there were no major storms. So, this is the first big threat since Maria. When I talked to Justin today, he said many people there are very worried, but he is hopeful that there will be minimal damage. NOAA announced tonight that Puerto Rico is under a Hurricane Watch, but hopefully Tropical Storm Dorian will not be a hurricane when it hits southeast Puerto Rico tomorrow morning. By Thursday morning it should be moving on to the Dominican Republic and the model I am watching shows that the area on the west coast where Justin and family live should be spared the worst winds. Justin promised to contact me as soon as he can after the storm to let me know how things are there and I’ll certainly pass that information along. Naturally I am worried, but I agree with Justin that if the storm continues as predicted, the damages should be nothing like the devastation of two years ago. The difference between 50 mile an hour winds and 150 to 200 mile an hour winds is HUGE. What we don’t know is just how fragile the Puerto Rican infrastructure is at this point. Let us all hope for the best.
Heather called when they returned this afternoon and invited me over for a Taco Tuesday dinner. There were lots of thank you for the basement organizational work I did while they were gone. There’s way more to do, but I did get a start. It was great to see Heather, Jed, and boys. I miss them so much when they are away. They had a great time in Maine despite their colds, but all are on the mend. Their grand finale yesterday was quite dramatic. They went to the Monkey C Monkey Do zip line and ropes course in Wiscasset which is near Boothbay. All had a great time, but Ollie amazed them.
As Jonah explained it to me, the course is in four levels, the height being that of a five-story building. He and Sam made it to level three and said that was good enough. They came back down to level two to do the zip line from there. Ollie continued on up to the top level with Jed following along behind him. Jed said the amazing thing was Ollie’s frank discussion about the fear of going on, but not wanting to go back. He said he knew he would be sorrow if he didn’t complete the course, so he figured he just had to fight the fear and go on. Sometimes that little one amazes us all with his mature thinking and his language. With Jed and one of the ropes course coaches there to support him, Ollie was successful in completing the top level of the course. For a couple of years now he has watched his big brothers negotiating adventure courses, so on his first try, he persisted until he was successful. All were cheering him on and very proud of his accomplishment. There were other wonderful stories from their time in Maine and we also spent time talking about home renovations that they are planning. The boys are getting older and bigger, but the size of the house stays the same. Figuring out how to change things to accommodate a growing family is challenging, but lots of wonderful ideas were discussed tonight. The Goldstones have tomorrow at home and then they head to the Outer Cape for a four-day camping trip. Heather, Jed, and Sam all have commitments at various times tomorrow, so I volunteered to come over to be at home for Ollie and Jonah for part of the afternoon as the others scurry about. So that will be my tomorrow.
