When I woke up this morning, could have sworn it was judgement day

Today marks the the first day of school but amidst COVID-19 it's far from the typical first day of school. LT starts 7th grade and Ads 5th while B is doing at-home preschool taught by him amazing mom. The older kids' school is conducting in-person class so we are lucky to have the opportunity for them to actually go to school. But that opportunity also brings a lot of consternation and stress about the risks of returning to the classroom while not really having legitimate options to do otherwise. It's not been an easy decision but they did go today. There are some photos down below of a school tour we did last week to see the modifications they've made to the classroom spaces to accommodate more distance between individuals and smaller class cohorts, which stay grouped together exclusively. 

Kar went for a run before the kids were awake this morning. Our plan was for me to run after that while she took them to school. But she said the smoke in the air was really bad this morning so I decided to keep my workout indoors on the Peloton. That's right, smoke. There are several big wildfires burning and their smoke has resulted in a nasty haze over the city for well over a week now. The photo above is is included for effect and actually from Seoul a few years ago. But it is really not too different from what it's looked like around here lately. 

I did the "Prince ride" for my workout and, of course, "1999" was on the playlist. It's a little hyperbolic but the line about judgement day (used as the title of this post) seemed appropriate on the day we send our kids in masks back to modified school amidst a global pandemic and against the backdrop of skies darkened from the smoke of raging forest fires nearby. 

It's a first day of school unlike any other we've previously experienced. Hopefully it's unlike any we'll see in the coming years.