News: the Good, the Bad, and the Sad

I had a mammogram and ultrasound yesterday - part of a regular check-up. I always get very anxious in the days before the imaging. Because you never know what they are going to find.

I am happy to say - there was nothing new. 

Weight off my shoulders. At least for a few months, and then I'll get to look forward to the next thing (I get mammogram or MRI every 6 months because of the high risk for breast cancer).

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Ukraine and Russia - I don't know how to express the horror, the sadness, and the hopelessness I am feeling. My grandparents lived in Kharkiv for more than 10 years. I have very fond memories of going to the nearby store to get fresh bread and eggs for my grandmother, getting ice cream from a street vendor  (best vanilla ice cream I ever had), going to the zoo (they had these amazing sugar candies on a stick, in the shape of a rooster, that you could suck on for hours), the circus (at age 4, I sobbed uncontrollably when I saw clowns perform because they were breaking a piano as part of their joke act), the parks. I loved getting on the subway there - it was all granite and marble (and lots of patriotic images) - that same subway that people are using as a bomb shelter now. This is insanity. It's like watching an old World War II movie, except this is happening now.

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One of my dad's cousins, Big Rosa, passed away recently. Just a little over a year after Little Rosa.

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Our school district is doing away with mask requirements starting next week. I am OK with that - the covid numbers are down in our area and our entire family is vaccinated. Kids say they still pan to wear masks in crowded hallways. 

I feel like I should take advantage of this moment and plan activities that may become undesirable once the next covid wave hits. Like going to a museum, or a movie theater, or the concert hall. Or the middle school musical - I think we'll do that next week. (I do hope there will be no more major covid waves... yes, stupid to hope for something so unlikely).