Laura, my parents got married on Feb. 14th, 1950, so it's always been a sweet day to me. My dad was able to schedule leave from the Navy then, so that's the weekend that worked for the wedding. They hadn't been shooting for Valentine's Day, but what are you gonna do? Very cute. Then my mom up and moved to Morocco with him, because that's where he was stationed! So began their international journey. Though, the part where they had family in tow was because of Dupont, not the Navy.

We are low key on the day here, but we did schedule a three day cabin in the woods for Tue-Thu, so we're pretending like it was a whole Valentine's Day plan (it wasn't). I might make a homemade card, though. I can't wait for a change of scenery, dear lord.

My son Bobby ended up proposing on maybe the 12th because he didn't want to do it on Valentine's day, and Tate's birthday is the 17th, so he wanted it a different day. She posted a cute picture of my grandson I need to share.

Laura have you already heard about covid arm?

Thankfully a coworker circulated that article a few days after our first dose, because week two I started noticing that welt at my injection side and probably would have been concerned if I didn't already know that it was NBD. I also have continued having occasional feelings like a mild muscle spasm at the injection site (i'm sure it's related) so I'm planning on getting dose 2 in the other arm. Ya know, to even things up ;P

I'm thinking about venturing out today in snow boots and full gear to visit with my pod/extended family a mile away. What is usually a pleasant stroll will probably be rather a trek (especially the return home since it'll probably be sleeting again) but I have decent snow boots with wee little spikes that are pretty dang good on ice. Not as good as skis, but I don't have access to those.

Or I might stay home and make some more progress on some eggs. Because I have a bunch in progress and it would be nice to finish something.

Thanks, erin_obscure. DH researched when I started complaining about the itch. I had heard about it, but since it had been over a week I was still surprised. Good idea on doing the other arm to be evened out.

I just found out that NY State has added Being Fat (BMI of 30+) to the listsof comorbidities that qualify you for Covid vaccines! Time to start checking daily for available appointments!

Are they already at that stage, Jess? Dang. (Ours is two stages form now, after “essential workers over 50”, and you’d have to have two comorbidities not just one)

I do not have snow boots, nor spikes. I only need them like once every other year. But I wish I had some right now

Discounts on movie tickets and being able to get jabbed are a couple of the rare advantages of being over 65. Woot! Take victories where I can.

I don't regret quitting smoking, but it does pinch a little to see it on the list of things that might move you up the vaccine list.

Vibing hard for all the vaccines for everyone!

Laura, I'm loving seeing your family updates--IIRC, there had been some strain with your son and DIL and I'm so, so happy that things are loving and mended. Also grateful for any and all pictures of your cutiehead grandson!

ION, ugh. Long family-dirty-laundry rant ahead that I can't rant anywhere but a super-private non-Googleable space.

My dad's girlfriend W. hate-shared a stupid bit of puffery in the Nob Hill Gazette, a community magazine for SF's snootiest and cringiest. They ran around asking various locals including socialites, a jazz singer, a mindfulness consultant, a radio host, a celebrity hairstylist, and my cousin's ex-husband, "What are you doing to find joy now?" and his answer is making W. and me both want to throttle him.

Backstory: ex is a former Orthodox priest who was censorious and shitty to our entire family for being insufficiently Orthodox, who insisted that all his sib-in-laws address him as "Father," who was pompous and preening and relentless about demanding every inch of the privilege he felt his status as a clergyman entitled him to, and who was defrocked after my cousin, found out he'd been sleeping with multiple members of his congregation for years (anyone of any gender who'd have him, and NONE of them, being in the congregation, could possibly have been unaware that he was married at the time), including while she was pregnant with twins and later in treatment for breast cancer.

After the end of the marriage and his priesthood, they went into counseling to try to figure out how to co-parent, but she eventually quit because all he wanted to do was talk about how freeing it was to fully embrace his entire sexual identity without labels or restrictions instead of trivialities like why he'd promise to spend a weekend with the kids and then blow them off with zero notice or why he kept not paying any child support. He has next to no relationship with his kids and much of the time doesn't appear to remember they exist. But he's photogenic and winsome and has spun it all into a voyage of self-discovery and coming out and learning to love himself just as he is, and he's gotten himself appointed to various boards and committees all over the city and everyone who was never related to him thinks he's just delightful.

Years later, my cousin is *still* living at her parents' house because she'd quit a good job to marry him and be a full-time pastor's wife and lost more than a decade of work experience, survived on a few event planning gigs (the one thing pastor's-wifing gives you a shit-ton of experience at), put moving out on hold when the breast cancer came back, put it on hold again when her dad required around-the-clock care for the last few years before he died. Then she got a decent job in SF, and within six months her dad had died, the pandemic hit, her workplace shut down and she was diagnosed with a completely different cancer. So for the last year she's been immunocompromised and on deep lockdown with her widowed mother, sleeping in her childhood bedroom while he's gadding about City Hall and the society pages.

So, here's what he is doing to find joy now, and why I really want to just set him on fire:

"My love for the sea inspired me to buy a condo on an estuary with a dock in Marin County in the middle of the pandemic! I pinch myself because working from home when you feel like you are perpetually on vacation is a surreal experience. I feel grateful and blessed to have found and made this inspired space my home, which is bringing me greater joy than I ever imagined possible!"

Fairfax County put up a dashboard Friday that shows roughly where you are in line. They are currently making appointments for the 40k+ people who registered on 1/18. Could take several weeks, they predict. Then it drops down to about 8k registered per day, and I registered on 1/22, so... a long way off. I think CVS in VA is supposed to start getting them soon, so I guess I can check there, too. Plus, apparently I should check in hospitals where I've been treated. It's very haphazard, but whatever.

Ordering in tonight, yay.