My problem was solved by my son. It is Apple permission "shenanigans" as he called it. This was the fix.
To reset your user folder permissions to normal, follow these steps:
Open System Preferences -> Users and Groups.
Click the padlock in the bottom left corner and authenticate with admin credentials.
Right-click (or hold down Control as you click on) your username in the left sidebar. Then, select Advanced Options.
Take note of your User ID. It should be a three or four-digit number. Then, click Cancel, and close System Preferences.
IMPORTANT: Do NOT change or modify any of the values shown on that screen.
Open Terminal, located in Applications -> Utilities.
Type this command and hit Enter (replace userID with your real User ID): diskutil resetuserpermissions / userID
Terminal will let you know when the repair is finished. When done, restart your Mac.