The falls

When I was in high school, we used to hang out at Osage lake.  It is a good place for a bon fire, fishing, day drinking, skipping class, and other stuff.  I don’t advocate these activities, but I heard “other people” have done this.   When Mallory and Madison were in high school, I used to beg them to go out and “act like kids.”   They rarely did.  One night, they told me they were going out to hang at Osage lake. I told them to be careful because half of the children in Osage county were conceived at that lake.  They were so not amused with me.  

When Cameron was in high school, he once went to the falls (the back side of the dam has some beautiful waterfalls).  He had a basketball game for his summer league.  He locked his keys in his car out there.  No problem - I’ll just pick you up and we will get the car later.  Oh no, he had locked the keys and his basketball uniform, and his shoes in the car.   We had to call a friend of mine who is a locksmith.  When I told him where the car was located, he laughed and said yes he was familiar with the place.  

Enter a pandemic.  My younger crowd is handling their stay home orders like a pack of hyenas would.  Actually, they aren’t that bad, but they do tend to ask regularly if I can take them on a car ride.  Today, I decided some hiking at the falls would be fun for them.  It was beautiful out!  There were a lot of people fishing and camping, but no one on the trails or at the falls.  The kids had a great time exploring and taking pictures.  I’m glad I drug them out there.  

On our way home, we were discussing dinner.  Saige wanted spaghetti.  Quincy wanted to make cake balls.  Everyone was happy tonight!

  

I see that there are starting to be some people picketing and protesting against the stay home orders. I honestly can understand both sides of this argument.  It is an interesting time in the history of our country.  Watching the oil markets crash, seeing hundreds of thousands out of work, watching the government pass stimulus bill after stimulus bill, with no idea how we will cover that, and feeling like we are selling out our grandchildren for this is terrifying.  And the fear of getting sick, of infecting your grandma, of trying to figure out what is safe, what is not safe, where you can go, where you should avoid.  It’s overwhelming.   Honestly I just have to keep doing these fun things with the kids just to keep myself from worrying about it too much.  I do have the power to pray for a positive ending, so that is what I am doing.