Mid-June was when our state "reopened." Between that and being vaccinated, it felt rather freeing. We were still cautious because the boys weren't yet vaccinated and because we were anticipating a surge of the Delta variant (which by now has come to pass). Manny returned to work in person once fully vaccinated at the end of June, but occasionally works from home.
I started a job tutoring a seven year-old girl twice or three times a week in the summer. I think she basically lost an entire year of school going virtual, but we worked to get her as prepared as we could before this school year started. I will still be tutoring her once a week. I had originally planned to maybe take three tutoring jobs, but once Manny went back to work, I decided to stay home with the kids. I really like the student and the family. And right by their house, the local library does a pop-up every two weeks. So even though I miss going to the library so much, I can get some great books there. If only I had more time to read them...
Father's Day was all about the Coldstone ice cream cake and picking up food from The Habit, a burger restaurant we hadn't been to in a long time. I am thankful that our family is together and that the kids have their dad. And thankful that Isaac wasn't gagging at the food this time, though there still wasn't a lot he could eat.
I stopped by a Juneteenth celebration in a neighboring city. It was put together by community groups, students, and local sponsors. Some churches and other groups participated. No one else in the family wanted to go, but it was nice break for me. The food truck sold out before these little boys got there, so I gave them my food ticket for hushpuppies. They were so grateful! When they asked what hushpuppies were, I became aware that my whole demeanor changed as I responded. I remembered what it was like to grow up with black kids, something for which I am very grateful. It's easier to judge people you haven't gotten to know deeply. I may actually be more familiar with black urban culture than white suburban culture, even though I now spend more time in the latter. Even then, there is a wealth of history I am only beginning to discover in recent years. I can't go over it all, but I recommend Caste by Isabel Wilkerson and my friends' film Far East Deep South for a perspective on things we were not taught in school.
Something I've been contemplating in recent years is that colorblindness may not be enough. Yes, we should not judge people based on race, a manmade construct, but I think there's something to be said about acknowledging and appreciating our differences. When I first became a Christian, for example, I found myself in predominantly white churches, and there were many things I adopted as part of that culture that I now think were perhaps related to the demographic and not necessarily an indicator of faith as I had thought. That would make sense, because if you visited churches in the Philippines or Nigeria or Turkey, they would all be different. But having limited experience, I think I bought into certain types of music or food or political leanings being more "Christian."
This came to a head with the 2016 election. I could not in good conscience vote for Trump, and yet people all around me were singing his praises. And prejudice that was subconscious began to surface and spread in the church. I watched people I considered dear friends completely change their tunes in a negative way about what it meant to share the love of Christ with people. Even among self-proclaimed anti-racists, there was a level of cultural and historical ignorance that were propagated by social media posts and commentaries by the most vocal. I felt very disheartened. Then there was Covid, which seemed to divide us even further. People were unwilling to make this small sacrifice, if one would even call it that, of donning masks to help save lives. They cried hoax or not a big deal as hundreds of thousands of people died in what I believe were preventable deaths. But I was treated by some like I was living in fear and being a sheep. The mask was never to protect myself but to protect others, to keep hospitals from being overwhelmed. I have friends who are doctors and nurses and they were severely overwhelmed. This was not about mainstream news or fake news--this was happening in real life by real accounts. Sometimes I took some calculated risks when it came to going shopping or eating out, but I did my best to limit the spread and stay home when the surges happened or during holidays.
We lost an aunt to Covid, and I was taken aback by the response of some regarding her ethnicity and health, as if she were somehow less of a person for being more at risk, and therefore an "other" for whom we not need change our "personal freedoms." Even now as children are dying from it, people are still saying, well that's them, not me. I've watched my Christian friend circles fall apart, and non-Christians comment on what it is like to see us fight with one another (this is why I wouldn't be a Christian, they'd said). I feel like the further you are from the middle where we find common ground, the less likely you are to be able to hear other sides. It's like John 13 disappeared. We threw aside the supernatural love that we are to have and show the world for love of self and freedom. Anyway, I'm off my soapbox.
All in all, except for missing Nacho so much on what would have been his third birthday, and June went pretty well for us. We were getting ready for our first family vacation in years in July!
