June Brings Ins (Wins) and Outs (Outages) by the Day

June has been a whirlwind, and the first week started us off with a bang. Let’s break down the day-by-day with a play-by-play.

Monday morning, June 4, began with a visit by royal visitors from California stopping by en route to Namibia. Mom and Doug showed up at 7:00 am ready to rock and roll, while the rest of us held our eyelids open manually (or not, in the case of Tatum). They had a brief but spectacular three days at Tomlinson Terrace and as usual, managed to socialize, rest, shop, read, plan, fix and entertain despite the brief timeline.

Monday evening ended with a bang when Dad led a Meet the Author event at the Bethesda library to share from his book Eyewitness to AIDS: On the Frontlines of a Pandemic. It was very exciting and a little nerve-wracking job of moderating the event. Dad eventually, after much cajoling , let me introduce him and ask some questions. I didn’t ask too many, however, only three, because the room was packed. People were even sitting along the sides and back of the room. We do have a big extended family who showed up in force to honor Dad, but there more other people than family–we think there were almost 50 people there. Dad was amazing, very engaging, full of stories and facts. After the formal event, people lingered to ask more questions and have books signed. Staff had to try three times to shoo us out of the room. We quite literally closed the place down. Way to go, Dad. It was a gift to me that my three pigs got to learn more about Dad’s career and get a hint of what a bigshot he was. He is one the top 20 most-cited infectious-disease doctors from NIH. (Fortunately, I caught his error in that sentence, which originally suggested he was one of the top 20 infectious doctors.)

Tuesday, with the exceptional help and hard work of my beautiful, big-hearted goddaughter Marley, we packed a picnic and fled for the hills…of Wolf Trap. It was a big gift from Mom and Doug to take 10 of us to the lawn to listen to the R&B vibes of John Legend. I felt like I was on the island where Moana lived with the most idyllic temperature and stars and woodsy vibes. Mom made a steak salad with potatoes, dill and tomatoes that was literally from the 1970s Wolf Trap picnic cookbook. It was such a treat to have my parents here to celebrate the start of summer and my new year.

Wednesday brought an intense work load, as with the rest of the week, as I pushed to complete a draft of a paper for my World Bank Pakistan team on maternal mental health, stressors and child outcomes…go ahead, people, let the jokes roll. A civilized lunch at Dad’s broke the desk monotony, and evening included Mom’s chocolate sauce and angel food cake from Marley—my favorite birthday dessert—and a victory in at least one round of Kids Against Maturity. If you haven’t played it, it’s the least likely game ever to catch Mom and Doug playing (good work, Finn!) yet they won most rounds. For the record.

Wednesday and a half. It was most unpleasant when I looked at the clock and realized the time was 1:30 am. I willed myself to return to my dreams but my mind insisted on trying to cross the border between Poland and Ukraine with Kyiven. I was unexpectedly anxious all day Wednesday and through the night knowing he was entering territory targeted by missiles on a daily and especially nightly basis—“unexpected” because I thought I had processed all the catastrophic thoughts and fears earlier. He said the city is beautiful, people are out and about and they are unwavering in the goal of victory. Yet, people hold photos of young men and cry, and his first night in the city included three hours in the bunker. Electricity outages are all the rage in Kyiv these days, we learned.

Thursday was a happy-sad day, it being my birthday, hooray, but also the departure date for Mom and Doug. Although, to be honest, that was only a boohoo for me, as they were thrilled to be headed out on the most incredible adventures in Namibia via Paris and Aix-en-Provence. Finn also gives the day a thumbs up: he’s officially a sophomore (to Clara’s lowly freshman status). The day was capped off by barbecued chicken, my favorite birthday dinner, on the porch at Hampden Lane, followed by a (not) homemade lemon meringue pie. According to the candle, I am incredibly wise for my age.

Friday delivered relief as I turned in my paper, until we held a team meeting and decided to converge two papers into one. It marked the one-week anniversary of Tatum being home from Stuart Hall School and a frantic effort to unpack before starting work (life guarding at Palisades) in order to be able to socialize. Finn packed for a weekend away for speed camp in Virginia Beach with friends. And I lived vicariously through Hugh’s travels in Amsterdam, plus-plus.

Saturday, by tradition, brought the bright blue skies attendant to the Strawberry Festival for now 50 years. I captained the ticket table, Tatum helped kids with bird house painting, and Clara scooped ice cream and fizzed whipped cream into strawberries, good practice for her future dream job at The Creamery. We made $8,000 for the church, but more importantly, I bought four stripe-stemmed wine glasses for $5. Meanwhile, Kevin teleported to Singapore, where he lived the high-life quite literally at Marina Bay Sands above the Indian Ocean (where he ended up meeting by zoom with people down the hall due to a Covid case on the team), and Finn did whatever 15-year-old guys do on the beach and football field.