Ah, New Year's Eve, we meet again

Happy New Year's Eve from our home in Washington, DC, current Covid hotspot. 

I mean DC is a hotspot. Our home is probably more like a warmspot?

So, last summer a friend of mine gave me a packet of CBD gummies.

They were little prettily-colored rectangles, ostensibly fruity but all tasting kind of like freshly mown grass, but most importantly, helpful for sleep.

In any case, I packed them in my Dopp kit but at some point it was a billion degrees in the car, and that night when I opened them to take a small slice, they were all melted together.

You could see the distinct colors but no physical delineation. They were firmly one multicolored glob.

And that's how this pandemic has been for me.

I can sort of attribute events to the first Covid year and the second Covid year, but as I have a tendency to think that everything was last month, even in normal time, I don't always get it right.

When was it that the kids and I were lying on the ground crying about online school, like, every day? Was that last year or this year? I honestly can't remember.

I remember wiping down our groceries and setting the mail aside for 72 hours (I think it was 72) and wearing latex gloves. I remember being scared of any and every molecule outside the house. 

That was early 2020, right?

I remember going to protests in front of the White House. Everyone was masked, and obviously we were outside, but I remember being worried about getting Covid. But feeling like it was important to join the protests.

(And when I say in front I mean about 500 miles away because so much fencing had been put up to keep the hoi polloi far away.)

After that, or maybe even because of all those protests and really no transmission, we learned that outside transmission is very unlikely. That was definitely 2020.

Vaccination was 2021. Hope that this would all be coming to an end. Seeing fully vaccinated friends inside. Only a couple, here and there. Not a party. No, definitely not a party.

But feeling confident in gathering outside, all vaccinated and maskless and in way closer proximity than we would have the prior year.

And then the news that people were getting Covid and transmitting it despite the vaccines. 

We'd still be protected, and we most likely wouldn't die, but we could still get very sick.

That was recently, right? I think before Thanksgiving?

So imagine my surprise to realize that it was nearly Christmas.

And now, as time as we mark it is linear, it is now New Year's Eve. 

Lo, 2022 is upon us!

We ended the first pandemic year without catching Covid.

We are ending the second Covid year with plague in the household. India brought Covid home from school. Honestly, it tore though her school.

They had everyone go online for the last day before break. They emailed to say 20 people had reported being positive.

India had a cough, and felt a little tired, but she was fine. Good appetite, good energy.

I gave her a rapid test, and it was positive. I hauled us all to Rockville for the only PCR tests we could find on Christmas Eve.

Then Betty caught it. Betty! Who we have worked our hardest to shield. My mama, who has COPD and has been my primary concern this entire pandemic.

She opened gifts Christmas morning, and then said she was tired and went to bed, and then didn't get up for several days.

Fortunately, DC has been giving away free rapid tests at libraries, and we have made good use of them.

So we knew.

She is doing OK, I'd like to report.

Saturday she got sick, and Sunday was scary. Her oxygen got quite low, but not emergency-level low. The doctor on call told me to buy a pulse oximeter, and gave me a number below which to rush her to the ER.

We flirted very near that number, and we set our alarm for 2:00 am and 5:00 am to check on her. Nick very kindly donned a mask and did the checking and let me sleep.

But her oxygen has been quite good since then. She now has a crazy itchy Covid rash. It's a thing.

And here's the part where I, after nursing my baby girl and my mama, also get Covid.

Which is hardly a surprise.

What is a surprise, a good surprise, is that neither Jordan nor Nick have contracted it. 

We hope to keep it that way.

India has already tested negative.

My mom's doctor assumes it's Omicron, because that's what seems to be going around DC.

Thanks to vaccines, none of us have gotten critically ill.

I feel like I have a cold. I'm exhausted, and have some joint and muscle pain.

But mostly I'm tired. And oooh, crabby. I don't think the crabbiness is listed as a typical Covid symptom. Anyway, it isn't on any checklists I've seen.

It is exhausting to be sick and taking care of another, sicker person. And making sure your kids eat. And making sure they walk the dog.

Although now Nick is on vacation and he has taken over, and I am glad.

Yesterday afternoon Nick came home and I stayed in bed. He fed the kids steak sandwiches, vegan crab cakes, canned fried onions, and ice cream.

They were delighted, though frankly, typing that makes my stomach all swirly.

God knows what their NYE feast might look like.

So we are ending 2021 in a quiet sort of way.

I mean, quiet but for the coughing and nose blowing and occasional bickering.

Who knew we could spend such saturated time together?

As 2021, a year with moments of extreme joy, and a lot of fear, and truly, the knowledge that I have so much to be grateful for.

I'm grateful for the people I love who love me back. I say regularly that I have many flaws, but I have excellent taste in people.

This is still true.

I'm grateful for Dr. Fauci, for scientists, for the many who believe in science, and for vaccines. I do hope they are made available to way more people in the world.

I'm grateful that we are safe and together, even if I have to wear a mask when I come down to the kitchen.

I'm incredibly thankful that my mom is well enough to be home, and not to be in a hospital, sequestered from everyone. This is not luck, or heartiness, though she is a very strong frail person. 

But let's be real: this is the gift of vaccination.

I also, however, believe in the power of prayer, the power of good energy, and so many friends have been praying and sending good wishes to my mama in this time. I am so thankful for those. I believe every single one of them help.

I'm thankful for our loving community. I do hope that 2022 is a better year for everyone. 

I have no predictions, and I have no resolutions.

Thank you for caring about us, and thank you for reading. 

I hope for health, safety, love, and joy for all of you.

Love love love to you.