Trying To Be Normal

It was on this day in 2003 that I published the first edition of the Swann Family News. My, how things have changed!

I am proud to report that we have completed 22 days of fairly normal school days! I am celebrating those small successes each day at dismissal. We have had a handful of people turn up COVID positive and they have quickly isolated themselves at home and switched to distance learning. So far we've done a good job of staying apart when possible and wearing masks when we can't do that. We had a few students test positive last week. They all play sports so as a precaution their teammates have had to isolate and switch to distance learning. So far there is no word of any additional infections.

I know the method of returning to school this year has been controversial across the country this year, but I can say that from where I sit and the students I observe they are really happy to get back to some sort of normalcy. I think they are resilient enough to handle brief interruptions to normal, but by and large the kids I work with seem to be happy and thankful to be doing school in person again. I do have a few students who returned to school this year as distance learners by family choice and most of them have dropped enough hints that it seems to me like they wish they weren't stuck at home.

I will say that this has been one of the most demanding and challenging beginnings of a school year that I can recall. I would not want to relive the last six weeks, and I hope the rest of the school year settles down. But I am glad to be able to serve our kids in this way. Appreciation goes a long way, and my students seem to appreciate the efforts made for them more than ever.

To pull this back to family news, Nate has an interesting schedule this year with AP English, AP Physics II, Art, AP Calculus, Senior Project, and Theater. As you know, he also runs cross country and his first meet was Tuesday which he ran in 22:15. Not a bad start to the season, especially since it was quite muddy, and he hopes to shave a considerable amount of time off this when he runs again on the 15th.

Ben is back in Cookeville. To hear him tell about and see the video tour of his living arrangement at the house he and his friends are renting; remembering my college living arrangement, I am envious. Each boy has their own bedroom. Then there's the common living areas that were large enough that Ben took a ping pong table with him. One of his housemates even brought a grill and a four-wheeler. Sounds like a great set up for a bunch of college students to me, and by the time they split their expenses it is much cheaper than living in the dorm.

More importantly than his bachelor pad are his studies. Ben decided to make another mid-course correction and changed his major to Manufacturing Engineering Technology. Now there's excitement in his voice when he talks about his classes, both the ones he is taking now and those he knows he will be taking in the future.

Jenna is over half way through her really tough term at school. She's been going to the hospital for experience one day a week and has had a couple of demanding patients. Fortunately she can still squeeze a few hours in at the coffee shop. And I would be remiss if I failed to mention that Nolan is doing well and has started his last year of school at Trevecca as a distance learner. Jenna and Nolan share a lot of their time between our house and his parents' house, and while I haven't voiced it I chuckle to myself when I wonder which weekend we have Nolan visitation.

We do have a changeup in our driveway. Vicki bought a 2017 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport back on August 5th. It has 31,000 miles and she wound up getting a good deal on it. We've driven older cars for so long that having a car that will connect to your phone beyond the aux cable is a new thing for us, but I think of all the bells and whistles the thing Vicki may be happiest about is that the car is red.

We wound up selling Jenna's Impala. It had over 117,000 miles on it—actually, the least of our fleet—and we had it a little over three years. Her friends at college were divided on whether to call it Frank or Fred so it wound up with the nickname "Frank-n-Fred" which almost seemed like a play on Frankenstein. So with Frank-n-Fred gone Jenna is driving the van. That way we still have a vehicle all five of us can travel in comfortably when we want to take a trip.

Not much else to report from here. As you drive around the tobacco barns are being fired so there's the aroma of smoke in the air. Pretty soon Steve Freeland will be setting up his pumpkin stand and Tommy Pinson will be cutting the corn across the road. Hard to believe two thirds of the year is gone.

Joe