A Week Ago I was Feeling Stressed

Last Saturday I had the double whammy of picking our daughter up from college for the semester and running our biggest fundraiser of the year.

Just a twee bit stressful.

I really should have blogged about how I was feeling a week ago. Instead, I kept it all inside.

Picking Ashley up for the semester was extra stressful because the COVID numbers both on campus and in the Allentown area were climbing. My school nurse advised me against going to a college campus, but I knew I needed to be there. I was worried about Ashley's mood. When I saw her six weeks earlier she was barely civil to me, insisting I wear my mask in the house, and not finding time to be with me.

What was I in for?

The Faux Gala became extra stressful when Governor Murphy instituted new restrictions 10 days before the event -- mirroring what happened in March when we had to postpone the gala. It literally took four people reminding me that this was different. This time we were holding an event with only EIGHT people -- the principal, auctioneer, someone running Zoom, someone answering Zoom questions, someone running Facebook, the tech guy, the person running tech and the web camera, and me. The Governor was allowing up to TEN people to gather inside.

We could do it.

Up at 6:15 am. Drove to Muhlenberg. Saw Ashley with her friends. They were able to hug for the only time all semester.

An hour later we were in the car and heading home. I rode with Ashley. I knew things would be okay when she took off her mask in the car in front of me, and handed me the keys because she was too tired to drive home.

Home for a couple of hours before picking up gala food, changing, and onto the main event.

The pre-event (a Zoom chat for ticket holders) went off with major glitches. Bart, our Tech Guy, quickly laid cables and the event ran smoothly. We had 67 Zoomers chiming in. They watched our dancers dance, heard speeches, and bid during our live auction. 

The evening was a success.

I wore a bridesmaid's dress from Heidi and Brandon's wedding over 20 years ago. The dress still fit, and more surprisingly I had it altered to tea length at one point so it was not too long. No one else dressed up as much as I did (though people did dress up more than they usually do when teaching), but accepted that I wanted to dress up and didn't tease me. Prior to the event I asked Facebook friends which shoes I should wear with the dress (the ones I wore for the wedding I got rid of years ago because they were uncomfortable). There were votes for each pair of shoes, but the silver ones won. Not the most comfortable of choices, but I only walked around at the end when I cleaned up.

With some free time this weekend, hopefully I will catch up on other parts of life. It is more of a challenge with Don working from home and Ashley home until February. Time truly alone with my thoughts is precious, but needed.