I am grateful for a phone chat with my mother and brother those morning.

I am grateful for a phone chat with an old friend, right after that.

I am grateful for a walk we took to the post office so I could mail a package. Along the way, the boys rode their scooters. It was good to get the smell of the house off of us.

I am grateful for pizza for dinner.

I am grateful for time spent doing projects with Farley in the garage. He was sanding and painting an old small wooden cabinet, and I was building a picture frame.

I am grateful for time spent in the hillbilly hot tub with Julie this evening.

I am grateful for time spent painting this morning.

I am grateful for time spent building the tree house with Cooper and Farley this afternoon.

I am grateful for time spent in the hillbilly hot tub with Julie this evening without any dang kids anywhere in sight.

I am grateful for time I squeaked in to paint.

I am grateful that I have the space to paint in my home.

I am grateful for time spent with my family.

I am grateful for a trip to Costco this afternoon that was pleasantly not nightmarish. I was impressed with how they were doing things, and how other customers were behaving. All in all, it was much more civilized than I thought it would be, and frankly, much more civilized than the last time I was there on a Sunday. I went there out of necessity, and hopefully bought enough that I won’t have to return for a while.

I am grateful for brief phone and text conversations with friends and family. It helps to feel connected.

I am grateful for all this time with my kids. It’s daunting, and I get annoyed and grumpy at times, but I am enjoying them. While this crisis is scary and the uncertainty of it a can seem unbearable, it’s also a time that Julie, myself and our boys are spending all together, recreating, working, learning, and playing. I am sure we will remember these days for the rest of our lives.

I am grateful for the first half of the second Lord of the Rings movie, which we watched together tonight.