I think the colleges are going to about-face and go all-virtual, unless something changes very soon.

Tufts just announced everyone's back on campus in the fall!

huh. yeah, I wonder about that. like other than handing people things or getting change I wonder if I've touched anyone. Without Bailey and now Miley I would be much worse off. I talk to them A LOT. I pet and kiss on them A LOT.

I'm sure that helps a ton! I realize how lucky I am to have my mother.

I think the colleges are going to about-face and go all-virtual, unless something changes very soon.

I'm starting to think so, too. So many colleges are putting out plans for fall that just make no sense at all. I've seen speculation that all-virtual was the plan all along, but the schools wouldn't admit it until after the acceptances and deposits were in.

West Chester University already announced they'll be back in person this fall. The public schools are still deciding. My mom's Friends School is going back in person, too, at least partly, but that's mostly because if they don't, they would probably need to close.

I'm lucky to have the kids and the dog for touch and hugs. Also, the young baker at work, J., is the sweetest soul, and she gives the best hugs whenever needed, and is also happy to get them.

Last Saturday I saw my mom and stepdad at their house, very socially distanced, because they're even more careful than I am. They only go out to pick up their online grocery order, and otherwise are pretty isolated. I felt pretty comfortable with seeing them, and it was a short visit.

Then Sunday (Father's Day), Tim and I went to see my dad, after confirming with Dad that I was not comfortable eating at a restaurant, but we could get takeout and eat it at his place. And we did that. But my dad has been working at Kroger all along, through the pandemic, and I've been super hesitant to see him because of that. He's required to wear a mask at work, but masks primarily protect other people, not the mask wearer. (In theory, Dad is protected from other employees -- assuming they all wear their masks, and wear them properly -- but not from customers who refuse to wear a mask.)

Before we decided to visit my dad, Tim and I talked it through, and concluded that it was probably okay to visit him as long as we stayed 6 feet apart and didn't go to a restaurant. And, as far as we know, my dad is healthy. But the problem is that you can't know for sure without a test, and my dad hasn't been tested for Covid-19.

All of that is to say that I've had low- to middle-grade anxiety ever since we saw Dad last week, and I probably won't actually feel at ease until another week has passed.

I've seen speculation that all-virtual was the plan all along, but the schools wouldn't admit it until after the acceptances and deposits were in.

I would not be willing to pay full tuition for virtual learning. It's so expensive and it's such a shadow of a real classroom experience. I'd take the gap year.

The Universities here in Texas are still saying we'll be here in person for the fall but, really, they mean the football season. They want that revenue even more than tuition.

Ooops, wrong thread.

I haven't touched anyone since mid-March. Thank goodness for the dog, who wants to crawl on top of me all the time.

I have however seen my sister regularly: we're mostly staying apart, but we walk and bike ride together, and sit on her back patio six feet apart and drink cocktails. We're both being otherwise very cautious.

The only time I've touched anyone since mid March was patting my neighbor on the head to show the cats he's okay, and I washed hands immediately after.

I haven't touched anyone but Jim since the last in-person class at the yoga studio, and that was - early March? Sue shut things down pretty quick; her husband's an MD. Ken has formed a pod with his former roommate and his partner, all of whom live in the same building and are working from home. He also has Melodie, the World's Best Kitten, for company.

The power is back on! I swear, if we move off this island it's going to be because every time a squirrel farts, the lights go out for multiple hours.

In other non-virus news, who would have guessed that all it took to upset 95 years of polite family fictions/mysteries was me doing a metric fuckton of research and persuading three generations of my family to spit in tubes? Several people on Ancestry who did DNA tests to "find out their ethnicity" and never looked at their results again are going to be TERRIBLY surprised if they ever log back in.

Also, the US stops for the "Stand At The Graves of My Ancestors and Berate Them For Their Poor Choices" Tour now include New Mexico as well as Tennessee and Pennsylvania; dates have obviously been postponed due to the virus, but I have promised my grandmother that if we all live through this, I will pack a lunch and a chair for her and we'll drive out to her dad's grave, and she can express her feelings about his abandoning the family when she was 2.