Anxious first full week of the new year

On Monday the kids started back to school.  Olivier was assigned a new teacher because we opted to have the kids go back in person if schools open back up and his teacher will be teaching the students who opted for distance learning the rest of the school year.  It worked out because he now has the same teacher Mason does (they are in opposite classes).  Makes thing every consistent for us a parents and Olivier seems to have adjusted without issue.  Anna's schedule may change slightly after the start of the second half of the school year on January 20th but as of right now it will likely stay the same.

On Tuesday the kids went to the eye doctor.  Anna's prescription has changed slightly and a new pair of glasses has been ordered.  

On Wednesday I participated in our County's vaccine task force on behalf of my work.  They have asked a variety of agencies to participate as they anticipate future vaccine doses being available for the coming phases, with transportation coming very soon.  Our employees are very anxious as we have been transporting to and from medical facilities and have constant interactions with the public.  It is a slow process but progress is happening.  As of Friday you can see how the cases are escalating in our area at an alarming rate:

During that meeting I was seeing that something was happening in Washington DC.  We knew that the votes from the Electoral Collage would be counted and likely contested but in the end Biden would be declared the winner of the Presidential election.  In an effort to try and stop that, protesters stormed the Capital building.  Lawmakers were evacuated and instructed to use their gas masks.  Just seeing that and retyping it now it painful.  Damage was done to the Capital, there were people who passed away due to injuries related to events as they unfolded.  There is a lot that lead up to the storming of the Capital building and a lot that happened after that could have been handled much differently.  And in the end, the protesters didn't change the outcome and Biden was confirmed, but the democracy that we all hold so dearly has been frayed and it is painful to see it in such a tattered state.  

We have tried to focus on the positive and this week has been another significant test of that.  Maybe we should focus on the Chinese New Year's celebration for the needed reboot?  February 12th!