It was so nice to get back to normal! I love a routine and I am happiest when we are on schedule. The boys headed back to school and were busy, happy and excited to see their friends and teachers. I worked regular full days on Monday-Wednesday. Xander’s winter after school activities started- he is taking a STEAM class (science, technology, engineering, art and math… I think I got that right) and french cooking. I am very jealous of his cooking class- how cool is our 6 year old?!
The weather was a little warmer a few days, so I was able to get the puppies outside for some walks. I know it’s only January, but this frigid weather is so miserable.
“Oh, are you having a snack? Do you have enough for EVERYONE?”
Tuesday the weather was in the upper 20s, and so a bunch of our neighbors headed to the sledding hill for some after-dinner fun. They sledded for over an hour and had some cocoa and it was great. Have I mentioned once or one million times how awesome our neighbors are?!
On Wednesday, Grandma Debbie had Cora over to her house for the day, and Augustus was the big boy who had to help babysit her. It sounds like he did a great job and he came home tired and happy.
On Thursday, I ditched Nate and the boys to head downtown to the Minneapolis Hilton for 4 days of Youth in Government. Monday-Wednesday, I went back and forth over whether I should go or not. I LOVE YIG and couldn’t fathom skipping it. But with hundreds of teens and volunteers in once place, it seemed like a guarantee that I was going to end up with covid since the new variant is spiking and cases are going up every day.
I really don’t want covid, but I didn’t want to miss YIG, and eventually I decided that I was going to go to YIG and just deal with covid if/when it struck. I decided that if I skipped YIG I could still get it and I’d be SO upset that I’d missed it. I’m still hoping for the best, but, ya know, global pandemic and all…
This was my 17th year at Youth in Government (including last year’s virtual version of the conference). I love seeing my YIG friends. I love the program, I love everything about the 4 days. This year was a little hectic- there were many new delegation directors, we were missing a lot of key volunteers (who either had covid or weren’t willing to risk it), the hotel was short staffed, the bus company was new, the meals had to chance due to changes in the skyways- it was a perfect storm of all the things. And oh yeah, a global pandemic. If we’d only had one or 2 of those things, it would have been easy, but all of that together made it feel a little more chaotic than the past.
However, despite all of that, the program team that planned the conference worked really hard and are the best of the best. Every person at YIG had to take a covid test before arriving, and even though we tested about 60 people throughout the weekend (I’m now and EXPERT at giving home tests), we had less than 10 positive cases. I was really happy I could be there and be part of it, and at some point, we will look back and reminisce fondly about such a crazy year. I was really impressed by how hard they worked to make this happen.
This year was a little different for me too- YIG is one of the programs I work for in my job, so not only was I there as a volunteer, I was there to work- connecting with alumni. YIG has the BEST alumni, because they come back for 4 days to volunteer. I thought camp created loyal alumni, but YIG alumni are PASSIONATE. It’s so fun to be able to work with this group. On Saturday, I joined one of the VIP tours (parents, teachers, donors, alumni, etc). I’ve never done a tour, but I was invited because there were some big alumni/donors on this tour, so I wanted to meet them.
The tour was at the Capitol and each student leader of the program area spoke. I got chills several times throughout the tour and I kept finding myself thinking, “what am amazing program!” which is sort of a ridiculous revelation because I already thought that and have volunteered for 17 years! But I was seeing it with fresh eyes and I was absolutely moved (which, for a cynic like me sounds SO sappy, but I really was). After spending so much time questioning whether going to YIG was worth potentially (aka LIKELY) getting covid, going on the tour was a really good reminder that it absolutely was worth it and I was glad I made the decision to come.
Back at home, Nate was a rockstar solo parent. He and the boys went sledding with the neighbors, had movie night and pizza on the couch. They played a lot of wii (which the boys are currently obsessed with). On Saturday, Nate texted me that Augustus wanted to know “when will mommy be done with her vacation?” which made me laugh out loud because Saturday had been a BUSY day and about as far from vacation as I could get, but I was sort of happy to hear they missed me. I really missed Nate, the boys and the puppies, but it was a FANTASTIC 4 days and I’m so grateful I got to go!
Today the conference ended and I headed home. I took a covid test this morning (no symptoms, I just thought I’d check) and I am still healthy. The boys were at my mom’s house today so when I got home, I was able to fully devote my attention to the puppies (who need a lot of love). I unpacked, did laundry, chatted with Nate, took a short nap, and then my mom brought the boys home. We had a nice dinner together, followed by playing, bathtime, and bedtime (did I mention how much I love routine?!) We snuggled for a long time when I tucked them in and I am happy to be home with my sweet family. I am exhausted after a busy 4 days, but also emotionally filled.
