The Mergenthaler Family

On May 22, Rick and I celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary. Our kids took care of each other while we spent the weekend in Sedona and Flagstaff. We expected a quiet getaway with peaceful hikes and sight seeing. Unfortunately, it was Memorial Day weekend after a two month quarantine and we were not the only people looking for a place to go. Sedona was packed. We went to hike Devil’s Bridge and found cars lining the road for a mile before and after the parking lot. We skipped that hike, which would have probably been more like standing in a long line at Disneyland and drove through Oak Creek Canyon to Flagstaff. The canyon was beautiful, but still packed with people. Slide Rock was closed because it was full to capacity and cars were parked along the road at every scenic point.  Fortunately, Flagstaff was much less overrun. We went to an excellent Mexican restaurant and found a nice evening hike called Fatman’s—perfect for the two of us who just gorged ourselves with sopapillas an...

Andrew turned 13. He wanted Bluetooth ear buds, a smart watch, and sugar cereal. It turned out that the smart watch and ear buds were garbage, so he returned them and got a guitar. He has been playing and playing and playing. He carries his guitar with him everywhere. His quarantine hair is turning in to 90’s Heart Throb hair. We love our newest teen.  Ricky turned 16. Social distancing is the perfect excuse not to go on a date. He’s excited about getting his drivers license. On his birthday he applied for a bunch of jobs. He landed an interview at Albertsons last week. After going to two different stores and being told they weren’t hiring and he didn’t have an interview there, he finally figured out his interview was at McDonald’s. Aside from being a half hour late, the interview went well and they hired him. He starts work next week. This is him driving me to the interview.  We love our happy, fun, energetic, guileless guy. 

Oh, those poor seniors! I have heard that phrase so many times in the past few months.  There are seniors in high school who were ripped away from their last prom, last athletic events, last day of school. And there are senior citizens all around us who are at risk for contracting a virus that could be a death sentence for them.  In both cases, people have strong and opposing opinions. First, high school seniors.  I have one.  Actually, she graduated way back in November 2019, but still. I have one. When she reads sad social media posts about all the things her peers were looking forward to and they now can't have, she is not much moved. Because, for her, it's a huge relief that these expectations--senior pictures, graduation celebrations, senior prom, blah, blah--magically disappeared. No longer does she have to explain that she is absolutely not interested in going to prom or that she could care less if she has professional pictures taken or she doesn’t want to g...