Griffin + Louise will be remote learning until October (likely longer), so while we may not be mentally prepared (still feeling so sad about it!!), we are getting physically prepared with supplies! My friend had the sweet idea to let her kids design their own mouse pads as a way for them to (sort of) get excited about school at home. This custom mouse pad has a variety of simple + non-graphic photo layouts, including just one big image which is what I’m imagining, using the kids’ artwork. They may have other ideas that I’ll try to surrender too :)  

Speaking of remote learning + supplies. This includes us parents too! I’m stocking up on my favorite chocolate bars of all time. And my new favorite gin. 

My sister in law has been an ER doctor in Salt Lake city for 24 years. She said one of the hardest things about treating patients with Covid-19 has been the disconnect between these patients and their loved ones who are usually with them in the hospital. Using patients’ phones or tablets to communicate with doctors is not ideal because it has to be held by the patient who might not be able, the battery dies, small screen, poor connection, doctors aren’t touching patients phones. It’s clumsy and not effective. It’s this disconnect in complete care + personal connection that she says is negatively impacting patients’ well-being. So my niece and her high school friends (along with the fundraising arm of the hospital medical group) have started a fundraising effort to provide ipads on wheels to patients through the Virtual Family Project enabling patients and their doctors to easily interact with their loved ones, to make them more integrated in the treatment and overall care of the patient. As someone who has sat beside a loved one while dying in a hospital, I completely understand the need here, and I’m so inspired by these kids starting this!! I’m behind it 100%! They’ve only just gotten started. You can read a bit more about the project here.