Day Twenty-Four

It's easy to focus on all of the things we're missing out on right now, but I'm doing what I can to focus on the other side. There's a whole lot happening that wouldn't be in any other situation - and a some of it is good. Therefore, I bring you a list of things that have been better because of COVID-19.

1. Mario Kart. DON'T JUDGE ME, Y'ALL. Mario Kart is the poison of choice around this house right now, which means the girls and I have been playing a lot. A lot lot. We wouldn't be doing that if things were "normal" so I wouldn't know how Mila cannot stop talking while driving EVER and she's a terrible loser. The worst, even. Seeing a tiny little blond girl losing her mind because she's losing at driving in circles is HILARIOUS.

2. Daily walks. While I am a proper office lady who gets her steps in no matter what, now the girls go for walks with me just about every day. They had no interest whatsoever before they spent their days trapped in the house, so it's kind of great.

3. Virtual dates. Whether it's Mila having lunch with friends over Zoom, Alexis Facetiming her crew, or me having a virtual happy hour with cool people, there's a lot of fun being had on virtual dates.

4. These two. In every way.

Alexis and Mila have never been closer than they are right now and every second of it is amazing and fantastic and magical. They are each others entertainment, cheerleaders, and support. It's everything.

5. Virtual karaoke. I was supposed to be in Nashville a few weeks ago for a global sales conference, which is basically an annual event where I present to a 150-person sales team for three straight days. It's A LOT, and yet somehow we have managed to adapt and are running the event virtually via Zoom over the course of several weeks. Because I'm me, I've been playing with my backgrounds. My current trend is sets from favorite old TV shows. I spent the morning in Luke's Diner, for example, and then I spent the late-night session somewhere completely different. (We run each session multiple times to accommodate different time zones. This one was for Asia and Australia/New Zealand. Thus, it started first thing in the morning for them, but at 10:00 at night for me.) I wanted my different to be some place that maybe a few people would recognize, so I went with the living room from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. I used to watch it when I lived in Spain, so I figured it was a safe assumption that it aired in other countries.

It totally did.

The moment one person recognized the background, he broke into the theme song, with his perfect British accent and all. Which, that alone was FANTASTIC, but then others joined in. I ended up causing a few minutes of loud, obnoxious karoake with six different people from six different countries singing the Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme song.

Seriously, it was amazing. I'm looking forward to a reenactment next year when we're all in the same place, but for now, that most definitely ranks as a fantastic thing that wouldn't have happened if all had gone according to plan.