Welcome Home

FYI….I’m posting this a little later than usual today. I usually try to have this out by 10 a.m. but my daughter-in-law Marla (along with 5,000 of her closest friends) came home today after several months at sea.

As I mentioned, due to Coronavirus, they never made any port calls. As a result, the U.S.S. Eisenhower set a record with over 200 days at sea. We joke that the crew won’t be able to walk straight for at least a month.

We’re having a “Welcome Home” party today with our family and her family from Pennsylvania.

We all made signs….even Liam!

It wasn’t a large crowd, don’t call the governor. Priscilla and my daughter Kat will be getting a Covid test next week before they head back to Massachusetts. It’s either a negative test or a 14-day quarantine and they’ve decided they would much rather have a paycheck.

I understand that on the ship they have been wearing facemasks for the last week or so to get ready for what they can expect back home.

I was trying to think about all the things that have changed since they left Norfolk, VA in mid-January. I had to make an appointment the other day just to have my glasses adjusted. Never had to do that before. (Yeah, my grandson likes my glasses.) I didn’t realize that there’s a questionnaire you have to go through to see the dentist, hair stylist and any other doctor.

Schooling is now on-line and probably will continue to be. Fall sports? TBD.

Baseball is back but you can’t go there and watch it.

It’s a requirement to wear your mask in a store. No dressing rooms anymore. Forget about trying something on… take it home, try it on and if you don’t like it you drive back to the store for another size.

Most aisles in the grocery store are one-way but no one really follows that. People in the grocery store look grumpy either because the mask hides their face or they think you’re going to infect them.

It’s really going to be interesting to see them adjust. Can you imagine just walking into all of these new changes?

One change that we’re making is I’m moving over to my daughter Sarah’s place. They have offered their guest room because I’ve been told the sailors go through an adjustment phase after coming back and I want her to enjoy her home without having to put up with her father-in-law in the extra room. “Hi! Mind if I watch ‘Jeopardy?’” Liam’s excited we’ll be roomies. I’ll let him tell you more about that Tuesday.

For now, “Welcome home Petty Officer Marla Braley and our friend Chief Skip Gallon! Let me tell you what’s new.”