I’ll share some photos and things here about our time at Meow Wolf, the kids loved it and it was really fun to see the kids experience the magical realism that the collective of artists who created Meow Wolf and made it such an interesting world. It was crazy that we also ran into a colleague and her son who was one of my students many years ago at Meow Wolf on that Monday two weeks ago.

As we wrapped up our time at Meow Wolf and exited through the gift shop, I had in mind that I would buy the kids something small to remind them of their time there and while my daughter chose something small and manageable, my son decided he wasn’t going to be happy with something small. Regardless of my suggestions he fixated on a blended creature of a cat and wolf that was probably twice what I wanted to spend. We talked, he pleaded and cried and I could tell that it wasn’t something worth fighting over and I bought the stuffed animal. It was more stressful than it needed to be and there is a part of that I need to just let go of when it comes to my kids. It might be something small but if they hold onto those memories and it takes a token like that to cement the experience, fine. It is just money.

We got back to the Airbnb and Sophie was immediately starting to feel the effects of the altitude on her breathing. Her head started hurting, she was having a hard time breathing and all she wanted to do was sleep. Sam was happy with that, he played on the iPad they’d brought from their apartment and laid in bed while I worried. I worried because there was on the horizon a looming storm they were unaware of. Before we left for Santa Fe, COVID 19 was beginning to make bigger and bigger waves in the international news. It was beginning to get a foothold in the US and taking my kids to Meow Wolf didn’t seem to be the most advantageous way to avoid exposure. At that point, it didn’t seem like it was going to be something that would make a huge impact in the region because clearly the powers that be would make some kind of isolation of affected areas a mandate and protect the rest of the country while a vaccine or even a treatment could be found. How different things seem now.

I decided that we’d head back a day early because of Sophie’s breathing issues at elevation and hoped that the quicker we made it down to a more familiar elevation of 600’ above sea level. Barring a couple of stops along the way back to Denton we made quick work of the trip and had dinner with my dad when we got back. The kids hung out with me for a couple more days and during that time the school district decided to close for the following week. I called my ex and talked about where the kids would be best served while we were out. Originally I was going to have them some extra time, I picked them up on Tuesday and we came back to the house and I did some work while they were relaxing in their space. They went back with their mother and then things seemed to fall apart. The next day or two saw the closing of the school district for another three weeks until the beginning of April, a date that we can all agree seems naive at this point.

The kids are spending a few days with me this week, I haven’t seen them since last Tuesday and it feels like a long time. I even thought about the fact that it might be better for them to stay in one place rather than go back and forth. If we all stay away from other people and keep locked down there shouldn’t be new disease vectors at this point within our fractured family unit. Last week, and through this weekend, things here were pretty…off. I’ve been a little lost, to say the least, because not only am I not at work but I’m without any of social interactions where I’ve started to find some value and definition. I haven’t been updating the blog because there isn’t really much going on to write about but that doesn’t mean it can’t. I can be working on new things. I can be reading and working on myself and preparing things for my students and not spending the day at odds and ends.

If we make it through this. When we make it through this.