November 8, 2020

It's been too long since I last wrote as the days, weeks, months of 2020 continue to slowly pass by. This election week has been worse than most, as I was filled with the anxiety of waiting for a result and hoping for a new way forward. 

I hopef for less hate, more tolerance. I hope that more voices will have a seat at the table. I have nothing against white men, but they shouldn't be the only voices in power. I am happy to see a woman rise to the 2nd highest office in our country. This is progress.

I hope for a peaceful transition of power and a government that can start to collaborate and compromise for the good of the people. I fear that those who hate will not go quietly, but as Dan reminds me often, you can plan the action, but not the outcome. 

One last thing about the election - this was Erin's first chance to vote. She and her friends were engaged and they understand voting rights and the electoral college way better than I did when I was 20! Erin told us being in the city of Philadelphia, which has been at the center of the election drama, has been invigorating. Erin loves her adopted city and the people in it. 

One reason I haven't written much, is nothing much changes in 2020. We are definitely in a groundhog day scenario. We work, we grocery shop, we cook, we get tired of cooking so we get takeout... repeat...

We are entering another COVID wave and I don't think anything is going to change any time soon. This has put a real damper on what is usually our fundraising time of year for the Shannon O'Hara Foundation. We typically send a fundraising letter in December and then hold the Shannon Cup hockey tournamentsin January. While the tournament may still take place, the likelihood of having vendors in the arena is very small. So this may be a year where we don't raise any funds. Another COVID-19 casualty, but hopefully just a one year blip on the work of the foundation.

Despite a down year, the foundation finances are healthy and we still intend to give out scholarships again in 2021. This will be our 9th year, having awarded money to 26 kids to date. This is absolutely the best way we remember and honor Shannon, so even a pandemic won't stop us. 

If you know a senior at a Rochester, MN high school who was involved with youth hockey and is pursuing higher education, please share our application with them. You do not have to be a high school hockey player to be eligible. Applications are due Jan. 10, 2021:

2021 Shannon O'Hara Memorial Scholarship

If you're curious, you can check out all our past winners here:

SOF Past Scholarship Recipients

Many of those past recipients are now done with college. Some are pursuing advanced degrees. Some are in the workforce. Some are getting married! Time does march on, even if 2020 has felt like an eternity. 

The foundation work always reminds me that good can come from loss. 2020 has brought so much loss to so many, and I need to remember that there is a light at the other end of the tunnel. Here's to better days ahead... for us all...

RBG, COVID hits home, The Shannon Tee - Sept, 19, 2020

Last night the news that Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died hit me hard. 2020 has been relentless. And it's only September.

RBG's pursuit of equal rights and her work to strike down discrimination on the basis of sex matters deeply to me. As a woman, and as a mother of a daughter, she was an icon worthy of my admiration. 

While she became known for her dissenting opinions, which might just seem like more of the "us" vs. "them" that plagues our country right now, she made it clear that dissenting is about looking at what could be in the future and to give a roadmap to future courts. And, I love that a 5 foot, 100 pound 80 year-old woman became a cultural phenomenon. So much to admire in her well-lived life. The Notorious RBG.

We can also take a cue from RBG when it comes to civil discourse and the ability to disagree but not be disagreeable. Oh, how much better off would our country be if we treated each other in a civil manner? Yes, I am a liberal and I worry about what's ahead for our country. But what I wish for most is a return to civility. We are all hurting right now for a variety of reasons - the pandemic, social unrest, economic stresses, wildfires, hurricanes. I wish we could unite around the human condition because this is a collective struggle for better days ahead.

As the pandemic continues on, it hit close to home for us this week. Erin and several friends in Philly tested positive for COVID. We knew this was a risk when she moved from our basement in a town of 120,000 to an apartment with 4 roommates in a town of 1.5 million. Thankfully, Erin's symptoms are very mild and we hope she can ride it out relatively unscathed. She is tired and she has lost her sense of taste and smell, all of which will hopefully be temporary. Thankfully, a friend's parents who are nearby are helping with food and supplies for the infected girls. They are together for the 10 day isolation period, binging Netflix and preparing for fall quarter, which starts Monday online. Of course, this mama is making Erin check in every 12 hours... it's the least she can do for me when she's 1200 miles away!

I am glad to report it's not all bad news here. Earlier this week, we had something to celebrate. An idea Dan had to honor Shannon came to fruition. 

When Shannon got sick, she was just starting to find her golf game and our neighborhood course, Willow Creek, is where she learned to play. After hearing about Shannon's illness, Willow's management at the time asked us if there was anything they could do for our family. Shannon spoke right up and said they needed an easier tee for girls on the Par 5 11th hole! It was sassy Shannon at her finest.

And so, the Shannon Tee was born. Wendell Pittenger, Scott Rindahl and Rod Johnson quickly built a forward tee, and Shannon was thrilled to get a chance to clear the creek with her drive.

Now, some 9 years later, a memorial bench sits at that tee box.

A big thanks to new Willow Creek owners Andy Black and Will Lancaster for allowing us this space, and another heartfelt thanks to our friend, Shaun Lang, who built the bench and donated his time and considerable skills to the effort.

We now get to have a moment of gratitude each time we play the 11th, and we hope others do, too. A little reminder of what's important... what really matters. We need that now more than ever.

Road trip - August 2020

2020 is a year that requires patience, resiliency and an ability to live in the moment and adjust as necessary. I'm good at two of those things... COVID-19 has meant that long term planning is a foolish proposition. What started in March with Erin's campus shutting down has carried through the summer and on into August.

We spent A LOT of time together, the three of us, as Dan wasn't traveling and I was furloughed starting June 1. Thankfully, my 12 week furlough was reduced to 6 and I returned to work July 13. It is good to be back.  

Dan and I were grateful for the bonus time with Erin, and Willow Lane was a safe place to be during the early, unsettling days of the pandemic. Erin made the most of being stuck back in Rochester, taking a bunch of credits spring and summer quarters, and working part time at the golf course for some spending money. 

While summer classes are continuing online, Erin was ready to return to Philadelphia. Her apartment had been paid through August, and she had per diem work opportunities that weren't happening in Rochester.  Drexel is attempting a hybrid teaching model in the fall... but as mentioned before, this will most likely require patience and adjustment depending on how COVID-19 plays out.

But, "home" for Erin now is Philly, and whether classes are on line or in person, she was ready to go. So, we packed up the RAV-4 and she and I headed across the midwest. (Grateful that my bosses were understanding of my previously made plans and let me take PTO for our road trip.)

This little taste of travel reminds me that I love to see new places and we enjoyed checking out gritty, industrial Pittsburgh and driving through the beauty of the Allegheny Plateau and Cumberland Valley of western and central Pennsylvania.

So now Erin is back in her adopted city. She has her car, her apartment, her friends. She'll be a junior in college come September. The world is her oyster. The pandemic may have slowed her down, but it won't stop her. Go get 'em, sweetie.

June 16, 2020

We have made our yearly trek to Lake Hubert. It's the place of so many childhood memories for Dan and Erin, and I love the ritual of returning here each year. Coffee by the Shannon rock each morning is the best way to start the day.

It has been such an unsettled time in our world that I've had trouble putting and thoughts down here on this blog. A pandemic is ongoing, but our attention turned to issues of racism and social justice and I've been feeling a bit helpless about how to make any sort of difference in this world.

We have all been listening and reading and processing as we try to be better humans. I am encouraged by Erin's generation and their attitudes towards love and acceptance of all people. Thank goodness the children are our future.

Erin is enjoying some much needed rest up here at the cabin. She completed her spring quarter of school - 20 credits worth - and she kicked ass, if I do say so myself! She's on her two week break before summer quarter begins. Summer quarter will be online as well, and then classes will return to campus in the fall in one form or another. Drexel, like many universities, is figuring out how to keep kids safe and healthy by utilizing their classroom spaces effectively. Erin will be living just off campus starting in September, in a house with 4 friends. At least she won't be in a huge communal living situation as she has been these first two years.

Erin is eager to get back to Philly, so she and I will road trip east sometime in July and move her back into her apartment. She will have a chance to work and earn some money in August and September while finishing summer quarter classes. It has been great to have her home for these four months, but it is not a good permanent solution. She wants her independence, and I can't blame her.

Since I am furloughed from work, I've had lots of time on my hands to stick my nose into Erin's business. This is week 3 of my 12 week furlough, and so far, I'm surviving. It has been a welcome change of scenery, leaving Rochester for the lake.

I'm taking a summer grad school course, which has been a lot of work, so that's helping to fill my time. Once Erin goes back to Philadelphia, I imagine those last few weeks of furlough might feel like an eternity.

I have to remind myself not to worry so much about what is ahead, and just enjoy what's here now.

And what's here and now is pretty great. I'm with my people in a peaceful place. The pandemic and strife are still very real, but they can take a backseat for a little while...

May 2, 2020

It is a glorious spring day in MN, which always reminds us why we live here. The next 5 months or so bring the kind of weather that allows for golfing, tennis, trips to the cabin... this will be a different kind of summer.

Since I last wrote, there has been a big development on the work front for me. Due to the lost revenue  caused by the COVID-19 shut down, Mayo Clinic has had to cut back on costs, including salaries. Temporary furloughs were announced for many teams and departments, including mine. I will begin a 12 week furlough on June 1. Many of my colleagues start their furloughs Monday, so it will be a different kind of job the next month until my furlough begins.

It has been such an unsettling time. Our team was once 20 people, then reduced to 13 when supplementals were let go in March. Now with furloughs, there will be 5 of us working on Monday, and just 3 of us starting May 18. We're really just in "keep the lights on" mode as we try to make it through the summer and, hopefully, return to full staffing in September.

It is hard to reconcile because we have been doing great, important work sharing information with the public about COVID-19. We have more viewers and listeners than ever to our news network site and our podcasts. But, reducing staffing is the fastest way to recoup lost revenue, so it must be done. It has been hard to deal with the emotions and support each other when we're all in our separate homes working remotely. We all, of course, can't imagine how the work can be done without us, but it can, and it's a good reminder that we aren't our jobs.

So, a lesson in resiliency for me and my co-workers as we each take our turn stepping away.

On the bright side, I have one more month to work and plan programming for the summer that can hopefully sustain us and keep our radio show and podcast alive. We'll see. I know things might look very different by the time I return in late August.

If you live in MN and you have to take a forced 12 week vacation, June, July and August are the months to do it. I am hopeful that our state will be more open for business come June and we can make our annual trek to Lake Hubert the first part of June when Erin has a break between quarters.

Erin is halfway through with this first quarter of remote learning. She's surviving the heavy credit load and already planning for the next quarter, which, unfortunately, will also be taught online. Philadelphia and Drexel are not quite ready to bring students back to campus for the summer quarter, but are making plans for fall quarter to be back to some form of normal, in person instruction.

Erin will stay with us through June, but once it's safe to return and campus opens back up, she's ready to return to her apartment, her friends, her life in Philly. We'll see if that can happen come July. She loves us and all, but Rochester is not where she wants to be!

We're still grateful that we're healthy and we've gotten this bonus time together. Dan and I laughed this week, reminiscing about sending Erin back to school after last winter break. I was weepy and sad because "she probably won't ever live with us again". Whoops... She's been here 6 weeks now with another 6 to go! It's been a lot of togetherness and we're all ready for something a little different, but we've made the most of getting to be a trio again for an extended time.

I'm hoping to fill my summer with golf, tennis, family and friends when the physical distancing restrictions relax. I can't wait.

April 10, 2020 - Turning (COVID) 19

Today is Erin's nineteenth birthday. We've been joking that she's turning COVID-19 or quaran-nine- teen. This is not exactly how she planned to spend her birthday as we find ourselves in the midst of dozens and dozens of days together as we try to do our part to flatten the coronavirus curve.

We will venture out today to get supplies to make a pasta dinner and pick up her favorite cookie cake. That will have to suffice as a celebration for this year. At least we get to be together.

Erin decided to make the most of her social distancing time by taking a full credit load of 20 credits this quarter. Drexel's distance learning started this past Monday and the quarter system means it's a 10 week sprint until this term ends and the next one begins. Erin's got a color coded calendar to help her keep track of her six classes and stay on top of the deadlines. We all hope this online learning is only necessary for one quarter, so we're crossing our fingers that she can return to Philly this summer.

We are all healthy and and doing our best to give each other space as we all try to live and work under one roof constantly. It's the first time in 20 years that Dan spent a month at home without any travel. 

My work continues to keep me busy and engaged as we tell stories and share information about the pandemic with the public. Talking with infectious disease specialists about the virus is fascinating. Dan and Erin might be getting sick of my daily reports on what I learned about coronaviruses! They are still humoring me... for now...

The happiest member of the household? That would be Gus, who gets multiple walks a day and always and find someone available to scratch his ears and rub his belly.

So tonight, we will celebrate Erin. We're proud of who she is. We're lucky she's ours. 

March 21, 2020

The world has turned upside down since I last wrote. A global pandemic has reached us, and we're all in uncharted territory. The coronavirus is changing everything for now - the way we work, the way we go to school, the way we interact with one another.

The logistics for our family included Dan's company suspending all travel, so he's "meeting" with customers via phone these days. He was already a home office guy, so has the tools here to do what he needs.

For me, work is busier than ever. Working in communications for the #1 hospital in the world during a global pandemic is some job security, I tell you! We went from producing a weekly radio program and podcast to producing a daily COVID-19 coronavirus podcast in the last 10 days. I am so grateful to get to work with experts in infectious diseases and other specialty areas to get the word out about what we know, what we should do, and what lies ahead. Shameless plug here - you should subscribe to Mayo Clinic Q&A on your favorite podcast provider to stay up to date:

https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/podcast/q-a/

Erin is the one with the biggest disruption of life due to social distancing. College is the opposite of social distancing! Erin came back to Rochester this past Monday, finished up winter quarter finals this week online, and now has an extended two week spring break. Starting April 6, Drexel's 10 week spring quarter will be taught completely online.

Drexel is unique in that it's a quarter system and sophomores like Erin go to school all four quarters. So, the hope is, Erin will be back in Philly when summer quarter starts mid-June. It was hard to pack up and come home and leave your friends and activities behind in the middle of you college experience. We're glad to have her home with us, but we know it's not where she's supposed to be.

For us, we will weather this storm. Yes, it is a disruption to life and yes, it may have long term consequences for industry, education, and health care. Things that affect us all. But, in the grand scheme of things, we are lucky.

We've been talking about those who are losing out on things they had planned - seniors in high school and college who might not get to have a graduation. Athletes who don't get to compete. Family and friends who had trips planned or were studying abroad. This is the year many of Shannon's friends will graduate from college and head out into the real world to try and start their careers. I feel for them in these uncertain economic times.

If you know me and Dan, you know we pass much of our time watching sports. With no golf, tennis, basketball, hockey or baseball on TV, we are a bit lost. Dan's been reading. I've been too busy at work  and also continuing my master's classes to need much leisure activity. We have been binge watching Better Call Saul and, in a fiction meets real world moment, we watched Contagion. So prescient.

We have jobs that continue, we have a home from which to work and school remotely. We can pay our bills. Gus and Sylvie are glad to have the company. They think sheltering at home is a great idea. We have it better than most.

These are difficult times, no doubt. Be kind to yourself. Be kind to your family. Sending love and peace to you all.