Finn and I spent a quick weekend in Florida and it was just the best ever. This was the trip that I rescheduled from a few weeks ago when my dad had the flu and flights got canceled due to winter weather. Once again, I questioned whether or not we should go because I had just brought Benji home and the concerns with travel and COVID-19 are a huge consideration. I ultimately decided not to blog or Instagram about my trip in real time because I knew it would open me up to a lot of opinions and judgement.
This trip was planned before I got the call about Benji. I was open with the rescue and his foster mom about my frequent weekend travel and they were both comfortable with it given that I have a consistent house/dog sitter who is basically a second mom to the dogs. I have received a lot of questions about this so I want to reiterate that I never board the dogs and my sitter stays with them at the house and treats them as her own. She’s been with us for many years.
She came over last week to spend a few hours with Benji so that he would know her when she came to stay for the weekend. I am so lucky to have her. Believe it or not, I think it was good that I left Benji with Zoey because when I got back the two of them had really bonded in a sweet and special way.
And RE: COVID-19…I asked my family no fewer than 20 times last week if they were okay with us coming and the answer was yes over and over again.
I don’t usually go into this level of detail (and quite frankly defense) on my blog but these are crazy times.
Our short trip was a dream. The weather was sunny, in the 60s and low humidity, which is my dream come true. Finn is OBSESSED with the beach…and said “beach” so many times over the weekend. This summer is going to be really fun! 🙂
Do y’all remember a few months ago when I wrote about how sad I was that Finn wanted nothing to do with my family and only wanted me? Well, in our last couple of trips to Florida Finn has been SO into my family. While he still wants me to hold him 99% of the time, he wants my family close. If anyone walks away or out of the room, he yells their name and gets upset. It makes my heart so happy to see him bonding with them so strongly. My grandparent relationship was really important to me growing up and I want that for Finn too! He loves his Mema so so much.
Speaking of Mema, she loves it when I shop for snacks for her at Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s so my dad and I took a trip to the Whole Foods in Destin on Saturday morning to stock her up! I am 100% on team let the kids eat the free cookies at the grocery store! 🙂 Tip: if you ask the bakery at Whole Foods, they will give you a freshly baked cookie for your little one.
My sweet sidekick.
On Saturday my mom and I took Finn on a park tour. We started at this beautiful waterfront park that is just down the street from our condo.
And we ended at a huge local park that had playgrounds, sports fields and a disc golf course. Finn skipped the playground in favor of running the disc golf course. He’s a busy little guy! 🙂
Later that day I took him down to the beach where he loved putting his feet in the water and chasing birds.
And then he loved hanging out with Sam and p paw (we have no idea where that name came from) on the gazebo.
I ran every day that we were there. One day I got in a 5K beach run and it was magical. The sand was hard and packed and I did not pass one single person the whole run.
Finn and I have been fortunate to spend so much time in Florida in his short life. I am grateful for every single trip that we can make. These memories will stay with me for my whole life, and I want them to be part of the fabric of Finn’s life. I pray that these will be sweet childhood memories for him.
I’m uncertain about what to do regarding future trips right now. The news is overwhelming. My heart wants to be with my family but I also don’t want to put anyone at risk unnecessarily. I will continue to evaluate the situation and stay in open communication with them.
QUESTIONS
Have you made any changes in your day-to-day life or travel given COVID-19?
What does your child call their grandparents?
In response to your COVID-19 question, I am a reader who lives in Taiwan, so I figured I’d comment about it because it’s interesting in different parts of the world. I am a student here and our school got delayed by three weeks to start. We have to wear masks, and in order to go to class, we have to get a stamp on our arms saying that we have had our temperature checked that day. When friday comes around, we have very colorful arms. There are plenty of places where you have to wear a mask, such as all the subways. The last digit of your health insurance card is when you can go stand in line at the hospital to get a new pack of face masks. Taiwan is still a very safe place to be for the virus because there is free health care for everyone, so I am less worried because people are more likely to go to the doctor if they are sick. When I traveled to the US, the customs officer turned his nose up at me because my visa says “Republic of China” which is Taiwan’s official name. All of yall in the US will be in my thoughts!
this is super interesting and I’m grateful that you took the time to share your experience across the globe since it’s so different than here. sending you a lot of prayers for continued health and safety!
I am in Ohio, and the first cases were just announced yesterday. We have a 4 year old daughter. We have stocked our pantry and fridge in the event we are exposed and need to remain home. My husband’s company already restricted air travel and canceled a national conference. Some of his clients are also restricting entrance to vendors.
I don’t want to overreact, but want to be prepared and not need to take my daughter out (or myself) to the store multiple times a week.
My Mom was here helping us, and we were relieved it seemed safe for her to travel back home to my Dad Sunday. She has lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, and is high risk. We are already talking about whether she will be able to fly in April. I would never forgive myself if she got sick traveling/or visiting us in the near future. 🙁
Antibacterial wipes are very hard to come by. It took several stops before my husband found a couple to keep in our cars.
I kind of hate that you have to be defensive and explain your decisions. You are kind enough to be open about your life on your blog – it’s sad that it opens you up to criticism/questions about your decisions!
My company has canceled all non-essential travel so I cancelled an upcoming trip to Chicago. I was leaning towards cancelling it anyways as I am on immune-suppressant drugs to treat my rheumatoid arthritis so I am in the ‘high risk’ group. We went to FL in late Feb before the virus started to spread more broadly in the US. I’m relieved that trip is behind us and we don’t have any more travel on the horizon! But our day to day life is normal otherwise. We haven’t stocked up on stuff for our pantry. I live in MN and so far we only have 2 cases. Maybe we will stock up a bit more if the virus spreads more.
Our son calls his grandparents nana and papa! I grew up calling mine grandma and grandpa. We taught him nana and papa since they are easier to say but now I don’t see him transitioning away from those words!
Glad that you had such a nice weekend with your family.! Can’t wai tto hear more about Benji. How’s Finn adjusting?
I live in NYC (Manhattan) and life is completely upside down. If you think it won’t get bad where you live, keep in mind (not to be doom and gloom) how much the entire country relies on the financial markets of New York not to mention significant travel nationwide relates to an airport in NYC. It’s a huge deal.
I’m more concerned about the economic loss than anything. The world needs NYC to function correctly and right now it is not.
Life happens and we all deal. The virus is a part of the landscape of life now. We need to be smart, but live normally. The flu is everywhere just not spoken about as this is. This will spread as does the flu and eventually will get under control and life will go on. Be smart, but not neurotic. It won’t be figured out that quickly that u can put life on hold for a year. If yoga taught me anything it’s that I wasted to much of my life being stressed about things out of my control and Type A. I am now chill and smart in the way I think through and travel my life’s journey but not neurotic ir uptight. U r a wonderful hearted individual. U owe nobody explanations for the living choices u make. I just traveled home from Florida this past Saturday and the plan was packed and cheery. Live your life smartly, but don’t stop living. Love to you and your adorable Finn❤️
I honestly think you have more chance of getting coronavirus in a yoga studio than on an airplane because there are so many precautions. I think it’s out there. What I have heard is that the freakout is due to the fact that the virus will spread exponentially and take people out of the workforce for a while. I think it’s always good to live life as usual, but that’s me.
So glad you had a good weekend and I love sweet Benji! xo
I agree it absolutely stinks that you have to explain your decisions and be on the defensive because of comments and judgments. It’s obvious that you’re a very smart cookie and a totally great mom to Finn and the doggies. Thank you, Jen, for your openness and transparency. It’s inspirational to me and so many others!
My company has paused non-essential travel, so while I work locally, those that fly into the office are having to work remotely. While I’m concerned, I’m not overly concerned as we take the same precautions as we do for the flu. My daughter is just 1.5 weeks younger than Finn and in daycare full time, so it’s a petridish every day of the year. So lots of hand washing, snot sucking, elderberry syrup, chest rubs, multi-vitamins, etc… We were thinking of using my miles for a trip to Spain before she turns 2, but now we are rethinking it, which is sad bc a vacation would be nice and if we don’t do it now we’ll have to pay for her seat, which changes our plans since I only had enough miles for 2 tickets. We will be visiting family in St Louis the first week of April though.
It’s sad that you need to “pre respond” to judgment – anyone who reads your blog knows that you’re a thoughtful and conscientious person who takes full advantage of the loving support of your family. You shouldn’t need to explain why you did what you did!
That aside, here in the triangle I am getting more mindful of what precautions I should take without falling victim to the illogical panic that seems to have swept over so many. My main focus is ensuring that my elderly grandmother has what she needs physically and emotionally as she self-quarantines, and that I am being smart about my own actions to avoid being a means of transmission to others. While the news is scary, I think that it’s so important to remember that people have gotten through worse diseases and financial episodes in the past, and behaving logically and empathetically is the best thing we can do for ourselves and others. At least, that’s the conversation I’m having with myself! 😉 Take care of yourself and your gang!
First of all, Benji and Finn and Zoey are adorable together! I am a physician in Arkansas and we have no cases of COVID-19 so far but I see lots of patients who are very worried and feel immunocompromised being pregnancy. I keep pushing and preaching hand washing and using Kleenex and using Lysol. I am praying for my dad too, as he has a new cancer diagnosis so it’s feeling very scary in that regard. Prayers and love to all feeling the nerves!
Oops- being pregnant
Ah this touches close. We have 4 young children, the littlest is a month younger than Finn, and are supposed to fly to Texas to visit family the first week of April. Every day I get more and more nervous and we’re fairly sure we’re going to end up postponing our trip. We live just outside of DC (19 cases here and rising daily in the DMV). My biggest hesitations are the amount of surfaces and common areas we’d be in from shuttling to an INTERNATIONAL airport, the terminals, the plane itself, the crew who interact with hundreds and thousands of people daily, then another INTERNATIONAL terminal and a shuttle to a rental car. Then repeat on the way home. While ideally we’d sanitize and wipe everything, it just isn’t feasible with 4 crazy boys. They touch EVERYTHING and put it into their mouths. Not to mention my in laws at mid 60s and my husbands grandma, who is 93 and just had heart surgery, now lives with them. Not only would I hate my kids contracting this and something awful happening to them, but assuming all 6 of us healthy, fairly young family are asymptomatic or have mild cases, what if we potentially passed it to them! The whole situation is scary especially since there’s so little information, we’re learning about it in real time and it just keeps spreading (so if we postpone, what would that even look like? Will it die off/slow down in warmer weather? Come fall will it have continued to spread exponentially?) So many unknowns!
I have changed my routine and will not travel. I am mostly working from home, and avoiding public transportation when possible. (In NYC.) I am not personally concerned for my own health, and I was surprised to read so many comments here that are focused on the poster/posters family’s health, when those people are not in a high risk category.
This is a pandemic. We need to flatten the curve. (Flattenthecurve.com) Stay home as much as possible without making yourself crazy. Lessen your impact on others. You will spread this disease; many people don’t show visible symptoms, and you will have infected people for DAYS prior to being admitted to a hospital/given a test any way.
Unfortunately, our government/capitalism are not doing a good job of what actually needs to be done to save lives. We need to take care of each other. Get your flu shot, wash your hands, stay home when possible, and don’t buy all the toilet paper.