Pandemic Week 78: 20th Anniversary of 9/11

 This week, we commemorated the 20th anniversary of 9/11.  It seems so long ago but at the same time not long at all.  While Joe and Theresa have vivid memories of where they were that fateful day, Anna's entire life is post- 9/11.  Her history teacher discussed it in class along with the significance of it.  Joe and Theresa discussed it with her as well, but it is difficult to convey how the event changed the world as we knew it.

So what did we do on 9/11 this year?  We went for a hike at Great Falls park.  Ironically, it was a picture-perfect day  just like 2001.  The other item of note is that it will be 20 years since Joe & Theresa met (the weekend after 9/11 on a hike) and their first date was a hike at Great Falls Park.  Lots of symbolism to the outing - at least for Joe & Theresa.  Anna was more interested in whether there would be a chance to get ice cream at the conclusion of the hike.  As many times as we have visited the parks, we continue to discover new things.  This weekend's trip was the paw paw tree, which contains a sweet fruit.  After seeing some fruit lying on the trail, Theresa had a vague recollection of the fruit.  We were able to look it up and found out they ripen in late August/September and it taste like a cross between a banana and a mango (having access to a smart phone is handy to ensure you are not eating a poisonous fruit).  In short, they are delicious and we spent the rest of the hike looking for fruit along the way.

In other news, Anna completed 3 weeks of school and things are still open.  The school system has a COVID tracker by school so that parents can see the number of cases.  School faculty will be mandated to have vaccines by October unless they get an exemption (an announcement that was made prior to the Federal vaccine mandate).  This week it was announced that high school athletes must be fully vaccinated to participate in sports, beginning with winter sports.  We continue to keep our fingers crossed each week that the protocols, including masking, will minimize the impact of COVID on the school year.

A Paw Paw fruit




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