Tag Archives: Home & Family

Over-Reaction is the Best Reaction

We’re self-quarantining here at Chez Tayler, but the State of Utah and the LDS Church are helping things along immensely by canceling school and church for us. We’re extremely fortunate that we already work from home, and are able to steer clear of public places without seriously impacting the family finances.

Rewinding a bit—my asthma is still on overdrive, but we’re otherwise healthy, and free from any COVID-19 symptoms. We’re doing fine. This social distancing thing is something we’re going to take seriously, though, because the best possible outcome is for us to look back on this and say “maybe we over-reacted.”

You see, the next-best outcome is a terrible one. That’s the one where we look back on this and say “It’s a good thing we did all that, but we should have done more, and sooner.” We don’t get that outcome unless neighbors¹ are dying.

The worst outcome, at least for us, is the one where we discover just how sick this coronavirus can make a 52-year-old asthma sufferer, and exactly how deadly it can be to run out of beds and respirators in the ICU. And if we can get through the next few weeks without that happening, perhaps without that ever happening, we might feel like all our precautions were over-reactions.

And the luxury of being alive to whine about over-reacting is one I plan to cherish.


¹ Maybe next-door neighbors, maybe folks from Samaria. We try to define “neighbor” in broad, New Testament terms when it comes to things like this².
² We narrow the definition quite a bit when it’s time to visit a neighbor to ask whether we might borrow a cup of sugar.

Achievement Unlocked: Married with Married Children

The wedding was beautiful. The reception was lovely. The day was exhausting, but only because it’s hard work packing that much joy, delight, and awesome into one contiguous sequence of waking hours.

There’s a thread of photos on my Twitter feed, and if you follow Sandra_Tayler on Instagram there are plenty more.

Thank you, everyone, for the congratulatory wishes, and support, and for your patience with us as we rescheduled all our business deliverables in order to have some make-the-family-bigger¹ family time.


¹ That may have sounded a little lewd, but I footnoted it, so it’s totally okay.

We’re Having a Wedding This Week

Our oldest daughter, Keliana, is getting married on Wednesday. This has been playing merry Hell with my schedule, but it’s the very epitome of “merry Hell,” because we’re all quite happy.

Tyler and Keliana are very good for each other, and to each other, and the old saw about not losing a daughter but gaining a son seems to apply pretty well here. I mean, except for the part where they’re not living with us because they’re off to have their own adventures.

(If it’s not obvious, the illustrations in this post are Keliana’s work.)

Hello, It’s Been A While, Is This Thing On?

It’s been a while since I blogged about anything. For those of you awaiting movie reviews, I apologize. I’ve been busy with a great many things, and kind of forgot how to leave the house.

Building this kind of thing probably doesn’t help in that regard.

The work surface and the wooden cabinets are new. Sandra did all of the sanding and staining, and they’re gorgeous (and a delight to touch.) Also, all those wooden cabinets light up when I open the doors.

It could be argued that this is a huge expenditure of time for a hobby station, but I did this as practice for when we install illuminated cabinets in the kitchen we’re about to remodel.

As anyone who has hung cupboards can tell you, practicing this kind of thing is key, because there are mistakes you only learn not to make by making them. Fortunately for my office, I’m a fast learner.

None of this is particularly interesting to you, I’m sure, but at least that photo explains why I haven’t yet seen SHAZAM or How To Train Your Dragon 3. (I’m going to see SHAZAM today, so you should be getting a proper movie review this evening.)