Our 50 degree weather is gone for now. It’s fine because it is January, afterall, and it’s supposed to be cold in January where I live. This time of year is always quiet and bit slower, I feel like, than any other time. People need some down time after the holiday rush, and most people I know do not love cold weather. (Magic is another story: she thinks it’s great out there right now and that it would be even better with significant snowfall.) A lot of times, I’m starting to think about the trips I want to take when the weather is nicer, but my brain just shuts down if I start to consider such things currently because so many people I know are sick.
My brother had COVID about a month ago. Thankfully, his signs were minor, and he tested negative 6 days after the one day when he was actually sick-feeling. My youngest sister started showing signs of illness two days after Christmas. She was finally feeling more herself by the end of last week, but as of yesterday, she would only say that she was “90%” herself. Amazingly, her fiance never got sick, nor did he test positive at any point during her illness. (She, however, tested negative 4 times and then thought she was feeling better before getting worse and testing herself for a 5th time to get that positive result 8 days after her symptoms began.) Last week, both my stepdad (who has underlying health concerns) and my mom both tested positive. They are both recovering now, thankfully. My other sister’s boyfriend developed a cough last week, but was negative when he tested himself, as were my sister, their daughter and his son. Justin felt like he had a sore throat for a couple of days last week, but he couldn’t find a test. Last night, the left side of my nose wouldn’t stop running for several hours; today, I am fine. Was I sick? Am I sick? I don’t know.
Work is just as bad, if not worse, than my family situation. There aren’t *that* many employees in the hospital, but we have 8 people out today, per the email our practice manager sent out last night. Not all of them, to my knowledge, have COVID because one of the techs is out for childcare reasons, but the rest of them could very well be. Another tech thought she was getting a cold Friday. One tech does have COVID. One of our doctors was out all last week with COVID and is expected back tomorrow. Our practice manager was on site last Friday for the first time in well over a week because she had COVID. We have 4 receptionists out currently. I know one of them is definitely positive for COVID. I’m basically walking into a giant cesspool of disease when I go to work tomorrow. Justin’s boss’s boss is currently out with COVID on his side of things. I upgraded Justin’s and my masks last week to KN95’s. I probably should have done it much sooner, but I guess better late than never.
I obviously won’t be seeing anyone in my family in the next week or two, between their illnesses and life and whether or not Justin or myself actually ends up sick. I am even less thrilled about going to work tomorrow than I normally am because we’re going to be so short-staffed that it’s just going to be miserable. Also, I’m REALLY just waiting to be sick, given how many of my coworkers are currently unwell. All the curbside appointments in the world don’t matter when it’s in the building, passing between staff. There are so many things I want to be doing at home instead (scrapbooking, reading the stockpile of books I have downloaded on my Kindle, catching up on the random online classes I have purchased, sorting through and donating or throwing away the random crap I have been accumulating, among other things) that I have ZERO desire to leave my house for impending doom.
Also- I agree with Magic: we’re due for a good snowstorm. That’s right. I said it. Give me 2′ of snow. It’s been a while. That’s what winter is for. If it’s not going to be above freezing, then there better be snow is what I’ve always said.
Stay warm, stay healthy (if you can) and do something that makes you happy, whatever that may be.
“Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand – and melting like a snowflake.” ~ Francis Bacon
