Summer has been over for a while now but I sit here and reflect back on what it was like. I never thought that we would STILL be in this position. Not sure what decisions to make, not sure what is right, and afraid to do anything to put ourselves or our family members at risk. It made for a very interesting summer break for sure.
Since being put on quarantine back in March, making decisions on who to see, places to go, and things to do to stay occupied, was a difficult task. We spent the first 2 months not even seeing our close family members. When we finally did, it was constant grilling of where they have been and who they have been around. It's crazy when you have to question even the people who you should have 100% trust in.
Once summer began, we slowly allowed ourselves to see people, albeit in limited quantities and always trying our best to quarantine for 2 weeks afterwards whenever we saw someone new. We wanted to hopefully get to a point where we could at least give the kids a little bit of a summer vacation. After all, being stuck in your little bubble for months on end can drive anyone a bit insane. We needed to figure out something. That task was difficult when most things were closed and most states were put on a do not visit list if you live in NY state.
Enter my brother and his fiancé of 2 years. They had talked about wedding plans on and off for a while but there was never any set date or plans made. At the beginning of August they text the immediate (parents and siblings) and asked if we would all be available for a small, intimate wedding ceremony at the end of the month. Of course my first instinct was to say YES! OF COURSE WE WILL BE THERE! It's my youngest brother after all and I wouldn't miss his wedding for anything in the world.
Here's the problem... THEY LIVE IN SOUTH CAROLINA. SC was on the list of places that you were not allowed to visit as a New Yorker, and if you did go there you must quarantine for 2 weeks. This made our decision to go very difficult. We went back and forth for days on it.
Finally we decided that we would go as long as we stuck to a strict guideline. We reserved a private house so that we were not staying anywhere too public. We drove down so that we could not interact with to many people (we packed food and drink so we were able to make minimal stops). Masks were worn everywhere as well as washing our hands constantly. I will admit that the beginning of the trip were were definitely stressed. As days passed we slowly relaxed because the reality was, we weren't going anywhere. We were basically staying quarantined in our rental house.
Overall it was a great time! We were so happy to be able to celebrate with my family. It also helped us to see that we can start to travel as long as we take the proper precautions and stay as safe as we can. When we returned to NY we made sure to quarantine for 2 weeks after so we could be certain we didn't have anything. It's easy to quarantine when you don't have to worry about going anywhere (a reason I love working from home).
Some advise I would give when planning to travel is DO YOUR RESEARCH! It is important to know where you are going and what you need to plan for when you get there. Are the numbers high? Is it too much of a risk to travel? How can I travel and still stay safe? Driving for us made is very easy, as well as renting a private house as opposed to a hotel.
I wish everyone safe travels during this time as we all try to incorporate normal events into an abnormal time. We have all had to adapt to this new normal but being able to incorporate some normal things helps a lot.