Hey, y'all,
Peg Peg and Tex moved in with us after spring break, and with Grandma Sue already living in the downstairs apartment and Grandpops in and out whenever we need him for a build project, your dad and I started making jokes about how we were running an assisted living facility. Peg Peg is from Florida and understands marketing, so she told me to call it a "retirement villa" instead.
I just lined up another few sandwiches at lunch and started referring to our dining room as "The Day Room" or "Senior Activities Center." Tex took one end of the table for his laptop to monitor the stock market, and Peg Peg took the other for her jigsaw puzzles. She can do a 1000-piece puzzle in a day in a half - it's nuts. I had to find a jigsaw puzzle connection in town because she was putting them together faster than I could buy them.
The best thing about being in Montana in a pandemic is there's lots of places to explore where you won't run into another soul. Your dad always says if the zombie apocalypse happens, we won't know about it for weeks. Your dad would find us new trails to explore as a group almost every day.
After a couple of weeks, Peg Peg had more or less gone native. We were so proud. She looked like a real Montanan.
Peg Peg may have let her spirit run wild, but she wasn't going to allow that kind of freedom for your dad's eyebrows.
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Easter rolled around and I was sad not to be able to throw my annual Easter party for our friends. I usually host a big blow-out with a really tough scavenger hunt that kids have to solve to find their candy. Here's the thing about me and holidays: I don't really go for the big ones. Christmas? Meh. Mother's Day? Nope. I just think most holidays have a bunch of emotional baggage and expectation attached and it seems to get worse every year because of social media and Pinterest. So I like to pick lesser-celebrated holidays and claim them. Easter is my jam. Maybe I'll pick up Bastille Day next.
I did a tough hunt for just you two, with one clue leading to another until Peg Peg said she was exhausted just following along, "and y'all let me know when you have some candy."
Hagen cracked the hieroglyphic code, and Laney decoded that the sheet music spelled "Peg Bed Bag" to discover the next clue was in a bag on Peg Peg's bed. I mean, if I'm going to give you $2 in candy, you're going to have to WORK FOR IT.
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We learned that the elementary school would be closed indefinitely, so the teachers did a "reverse parade," driving through the neighborhood and waving at the kids. We made posters and Brooke-in-April crossed her fingers the virus would be over quickly and you young'uns could get back to school soon. "Ha ha ha, you naive idiot!" says Brooke-in-December.
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We took Peg Peg and Tex up to the lake to check the place out, and your dad invited Peg Peg for a sail in his boat. I can't remember if we've talked about how your dad built a boat, but if we haven't, I'll come back and do a post on that because it's the prettiest little mid-life crisis you ever did see.
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To honor the frontline workers in Missoula, the city banded together and started to do a nightly "8:00 Howl," where you'd go out in your yard and Howl For Missoula. You could actually hear it all over town and one person in our house in particular was living for 8pm every night.
Hagen would dress up in wolf jammies and run all over the yard HOW-HOW-HOOWWWLING until the dogs at the park got excited and strangers on the sidewalk applauded his enthusiasm.
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Near the end of the month, we started having trouble with the plumbing in the downstairs bathroom. Your dad told me he was going to investigate and "get a better look." I have been married to the man for a dozen years, so I was emotionally prepared for what usually happens when he takes a look:
So we wrapped up April in a house with - as Hagen said - 6 butts and one potty.
Tune in tomorrow for how that played out.
Love,
Mom
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