Dear Friends and Family,
Our year started out very similar to the years before. The slow pace of late December quickly changed to calendars filling up with events and rehearsals - Trent directing Newsies, Spencer and Evan were busy perfecting their roles in Matilda and Hailey practicing portraying a bumbling policewoman in Guys and Dolls. Hailey’s performance was in early February and it was truly a family affair as we all helped out backstage during the production. Our early year was full with school events, scout outings (Evan and Hailey participated in a winter campout) and all the little things that we soon realized we take for granted because in mid March we all heard the record scratch across the turntable as it all came to an abrupt halt.
Covid 19. At first it all seemed like a little break that we didn’t realize that we needed, but soon the realization hit that this virus was not going away for a long time. We felt fortunate to be able to quarantine without having to worry about where our next meal would come from or how to pay our heating bill. Then the cancellations started. The experiences that we lost are devastating and heartbreaking and it is still hard to think of them without a visceral reaction. Fortunately, the resilience of children is powerful and our three have handled all of their losses and disappointments much better than we have as adults. We learned to make the best of our circumstance and filled it with exploring every trail in the woods near our house, baking and cooking things we never had time for in the past, piecing together every puzzle we could find, trying our hardest to unseat Evan as the board game champion of the house and Zoom calls - so many Zoom calls. Because of this virus we were afforded maybe one of our best gifts ever - more time to just hang out and have fun with our kids and that in itself makes it all much easier to handle.
Evan is a junior this year. He celebrated his sixteenth birthday with a drive by party during quarantine. He is attending school half in person and half virtual - again, not optimal but better than we expected. Even with the strange schedule he is thriving in his challenging classes and earned a role in the pared down musical that they will hopefully be able to perform this spring. Evan played tennis this fall and it was such a highlight of this weird season to watch him play and have fun on the courts. He had the chance before the latest “pause” to finish his Eagle Scout project adding on another element to what Spencer had started previously in his Eagle Project. Together their projects - with help from their troop and other generous volunteers - have created the Klairter Music Library for MSHS Choir.
Hailey is in eighth grade and is completely virtual. She has really impressed us with her work ethic and is doing amazing with being able to self motivate and get all of her assignments completed. Her school is mainly in the morning so another “perk of Covid” is that we get to spend a lot of time together in the afternoons. It seems like a bit of bonus time that we would normally miss out on since teenagers are not often keen on hanging out with their parents.
This year has been one that we could have never imagined in our wildest dreams. We feel blessed that our family is healthy and remain hopeful for the future. We wish you all a holiday season and a new year filled with love, joy, peace, health and most of all hope. We can all get through this together.
Much love to all!
Trent, Jennifer, Spencer, Evan & Hailey
