That sounds like it was a fun evening! I have trouble remembering the 6' guideline, I confess.

Last weekend DS and his girlfriend came for lunch on the terrace. We did meet inside the house and poured drinks to take on through to the terrace, but it was enough to get me to dust and vacuum the foyer, kitchen (darn open shelves!) and sunroom that we walked through.

Like you said, it was so nice to have something fun to plan for!

We had a small birthday celebration here yesterday. Just our 4 kids and their spouses. Instead of my usual ’go all out’ preparations, I just served cake and ice cream while sitting outside on the lanai.

Truthfully, the time spent inside was awkward, sitting here trying to talk while we were all wearing masks was not fun. I didn’t realize how much better I hear when I can see lips move.

We have my son and DIL living with us while their house is being built. Her parents came to see the house progress yesterday and stayed for dinner. It was delightful and such a beautiful day that we could mostly be outside. I'm an introvert who misses being alone, but I really did enjoy our time with them yesterday. It has been challenging to vacuum regularly lately with everyone working from home, the 2 scaredy-cat dogs and also the fact that the central vac canister is in the garage (which now houses their gym equipment and my son's coffee roaster. So people are out there more than usual-it's noisy!). My house really needed the deep cleaning it got due to visitors!

I have done two events recently. One was going to dinner outside with another couple. Luckily the restaurant had heating lamps and my DH quickly asked for the table near the side of the restaurant.

The second was lunch with a friend in an outdoor cafe. The weather was perfect. They requested reservations, but honestly, they were not that busy.

My friend said it best. Looking around and seeing other diners it could appear that things were back to normal. Sadly not the case.

Jmck, I emphasize. My DD, her boyfriend, and their Chihuahua are here now more than in their city apartment. We were in Florida when the pandemic came down, so it was fine for them to be here while we were there. But.....now we are here.

Oy, had a covid safe close family friend overnight this week. He is socially distancing and limiting outside contact due to his wife being a cancer survivor. They both work from home, limited outside trips. He stopped at our house because it was a halfway point on his long drive to be with his dad who is having a health crisis and needs his help. I has to dust the guest room. Whoa! We wore masks and socially distanced inside the house, and I sanitized the guest bathroom for his exclusive use. Luckily we have two bathrooms and a separate guest bedroom. We both remarked on how much we miss socializing. But neither of us will probably be able to let up any time soon. Mark my words we are in for a big surge . . . just trying my darndest to keep my 88 year old Dad safe through the indoor season as he fights with me every step of the way. He hangs out with deniers and will be inside with them now. They all have grandkids in school and are out and about socializing. Dad too intimidated to ask them to mask up, afraid of losing friendships and contact. They should honor him and do it but they don't see the need, have all kinds of rationalizations. Sigh.

So now hubs and I trying to figure out where we can get new supply of n95 masks for when we are around Dad. He's old and depressed as it is, does not need this worry, other folks should take care of it for him . . . .we had been socializing with Dad mainly on our lovely screened-in porch this summer. He liked it and so did we, it was a win win. But now that option is off the table, too cold . . . Dad is ok wearing a mask, just not OK asking others to wear one around him. Should be a no brainer around an 88 year old man with COPD, heart failure and reduced kidney function . . . my cousins refused to meet with us this summer, even for a picnic outside at a park we have been to as a family many times, because we asked them to mask up around him . . .

We were able to visit with my cousin, her husband and their new baby via a very socially distanced boat outing last weekend, before we had gotten our COVID test results which turned out to be negative (YAY). We stayed in our boat and they stayed in theirs but it was so nice to have contact with family in a social-but-safe fashion :)

Now I'm struggling about a potential sticky family situation. My husband's brother has incurable cancer; right now he is relatively stable medically, able to function pretty normally and he and my SIL have been taking short trips that he wants to do while he can. They aren't flying, but they have been going to stay at BnBs, and on their last trip they went to a few restaurants.

So, SIL says they want to come visit us the 3rd week of October, a few days after their return from another short trip to Amelia Island. I agreed and indicated that to my SIL.Today my husband said very strongly he doesn't think it is a good idea. While they will stay in our downstairs apartment, if they visit of course they will be upstairs talking to us much of the time.

The other wrinkle is they are both pretty firm Trump/MAGA folks so their attitudes about masks, distance etc are not the same as ours. They do wear theirs and they are generally careful, but I cannot imagine they will go along with us asking them to wear masks inside for example.

Then too of course we are the ones who had a COVID scare based on our housecleaner! So I don't know if we are being hypocritical to tell them we think the visit should wait. Not to mention quite literally my BIL can literally plan his life only on a monthly basis between scans and blood work so there may not be another chance as we are all well aware.

How I hate this awful disease and this terrible time!

RP, you are in a very similar situation that I was in with my family. When my friend visited, there was no need to even mention that we would follow social distancing and mask recommendations. Never came up, we all followed them, lovely visit. A nurse friend of mine visited her grandkids this summer and her DIL is a nurse and they worked out a protocol, she was so happy. With my family, it's all a big argument and it doesn't need to be. I'm sure your BIL has a different perspective due to his timeline, but still, masks are not that big of a deal!! My 88 year old Dad was already wearing the non surgical ones to protect his weak lungs from cold air and dust in the winter, prior to the pandemic. We managed a socially distanced visit with a family friend earlier this summer too, again, she was totally open to whatever safety precautions I suggested. She's 85 so she needs to be careful as well. Honestly if you want to throw caution to the wind, that's on you, but don't force your cavalier actions on others if they politely state they want to follow CDC guidelines, it should not even be cause for discussion. Same with smoking, smoke in your own space please, don't put that risk on me! I once had a worry that one of hubs friends that we invited for dinner would be insulted because I have to follow a strict "no smoking" policy at my house. They were chain smokers but they said, "Hey, fine, no problem."

We just saw our youngest DD for the first time since late August — had lunch with her on campus, following the school guidelines. So, we kept our masks on the whole time except when eating. We brought take-out sandwiches and ate them picnic style on the grass near her dorm. Only took masks off to eat and even while eating, when her friends came over to chat (which happened frequently because we brought our dogs!) we had to quickly put our masks on — as directed by DD. It was good to see the students following mask regulations as they walked thru campus, but also sort of bizarre IYKWIM.

I mostly see my friends for walks, or “happy hour” on someone’s patio or porch sitting 6’ apart and BYOB. Winter is going to be a huge challenge and I am dreading it.