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<\/a>Speaking of things that blow, the last time all of our children were all in their respective classrooms was March 5th. Traditional college, high school and middle school all ceased around here since that last weird day. Hockey season was paused, and everyone retreated home to figure out what working and schooling from home was going to look like thinking it was a short term situation. Remember when we were so young and innocent…<\/p>\n
Speaking of naivete, the way we interpreted the original social distancing guidelines way back then was that you made your quarantine bubble based on whoever was in your immediate vicinity at the time you first heard the news–kind of like a game of tag but no one could touch each other and being “it,” was super bad and ended the game rather unceremoniously. Nonetheless, this is who composed your Circle of Trust. (Welcome to the family, Publix cashier.) That meant Louise, Sundance and all of our 10 kids made for one extra-large circle. Inside this rather large and loud bubble, we isolated and cooked. And played games. And watched movies. And ordered a lot of shit. And whispered in questioning tones away from the kids that surely we would be through this after Easter? Surely.<\/p>\n
Speaking of bubbles in my wine, I can’t say this was an awful time for me. Being certain that this was short-lived (!) it was nice having our nest full again doing puzzles and sitting down for dinner together every night. Having everyone home was an unexpected blessing during a time it was hard to count many. As the weeks bled into months it still was this happy bubble that remained the one constant when the world around us fell apart.<\/p>\n
Speaking of surrounding ourselves in light even when it seems the darkest; that’s how March ended and how I will end my posts and my days–dragging my bubble to the nearest buoy of joy and clinging on for dear life.<\/p>\n
Unlike that raccoon in the corner. Time to give him a proper burial. We won’t speak of him again.<\/p>\n
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb, the 2020 version must have come in like a rabid raccoon with a raging case of pink-eye and an undiagnosed venereal disease. It went out like…well, it never really left and just lay dying in the corner of the room. Speaking of things […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[105],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3NIOM-eu","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":291,"url":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/2013\/11\/12\/a-tree-falls-in-nashville\/","url_meta":{"origin":898,"position":0},"title":"A tree falls in Nashville","date":"November 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Last weekend in our backyard... Me: The tree guy came and took down most of the dead trees in the backyard except for one. He said he would have to come back for that one with different equipment because it was too big. My Husband: That one by the fence\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Column"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":262,"url":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/2013\/10\/01\/fall-for-hockey-food\/","url_meta":{"origin":898,"position":1},"title":"Fall for hockey food","date":"October 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"We have entered into two of my favorite themed-cooking seasons: Fall and hockey. Seemingly disjointed and rather unculinary-like I know, but humor me with my explanation and invitation to join me on this strange road trip. First off, Autumn time for food-lovers is a no-brainer but lots of-stomacher. Not only\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Recipe"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.suburbandiva.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/IMG_2181-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":439,"url":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/2014\/04\/01\/jam-session\/","url_meta":{"origin":898,"position":2},"title":"Jam Session","date":"April 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I have this self-imposed small window on my calendar when I make homemade strawberry jam. It\u2019s a brief period in late March\/early April when Florida strawberries are at their absolute ripest, sweetest and on sale. I realize that they can be found at any point during the year and few\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Recipe"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.suburbandiva.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/DSCN0088-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":410,"url":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/2014\/03\/14\/st-patricks-day-dinner\/","url_meta":{"origin":898,"position":3},"title":"St. Patrick’s Day Dinner","date":"March 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the things I remember the most about my mother's cooking was her corned beef dinner. She would make the corned beef, red-skinned potatoes and boiled cabbage. It was one of my favorite meals as a kid. Except for the cabbage. The cabbage smell would make me gag, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Recipe"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.suburbandiva.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/IMG_1650-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":941,"url":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/2020\/12\/25\/christmas\/","url_meta":{"origin":898,"position":4},"title":"Christmas","date":"December 25, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Do you remember that old cartoon with the boy with his fingers in the dam trying to stave off it breaking and flooding the whole town? And then another hole bursts open and then another and another until he's playing Twister holding back the floodgates? That's how 2020 has felt--a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Column"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":275,"url":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/2013\/10\/25\/scarecrow-salad\/","url_meta":{"origin":898,"position":5},"title":"Scarecrow Salad","date":"October 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"A couple of decades ago for a \u201cHalloween-Themed Meal,\u201d I\u2019d have put out a bowl of Frankenberry and called it a night. Four children and the invention of the Internet later, I feel an unnatural urge to theme everything we eat in October into some sort of spooky, ghoulish or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Recipe"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.suburbandiva.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/IMG_2217-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=898"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":903,"href":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898\/revisions\/903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}