The Midlife

More than two years post-pandemic, the prospect of flying to Florida to visit with my Mamasita excited me so much. My daughter and I were planning to spend nine days with her, which were much-needed following a wacky school year, work overwhelm, and a general need to spend time with my mom due to her current health concerns. Of course, those plans would immediately be squashed, as my husband, daughter, and I all checked into the Covid Resort. Let me fill you in on our staycay while there.

While I’m writing this, my husband returned to work after experiencing mostly mild symptoms. The first two days for him were typical in-bed malaise with coughing, sore throat, and tiredness. Similarly, my 7 year old, fared best with typical cold-like symptoms, minus the fever. Her overall spunky demeanor remained unscathed, which as a mother gave me some solace.

Two days after my homies were quarantined in our bedroom, I still felt good and tested negative. This came to a screeching halt on their Covid day three, as I started to feel poopy, took to the bed, and didn’t get out of bed for two days. (It was between my bedridden days one and two that I officially tested positive.) In retrospect, my catching Covid from my loved ones was inevitable, since attempting to quarantine in our cozy two-bedroom condo was on par with doing so in a public bathroom stall. Plus, when my daughter gets sick, she becomes Velcro-ed to me as rule. So, I knew ‘rona was coming for me.

First couple of days with Covid, I’ll be honest I was imagining a lightning strike would have been a better way to go with life. I had no fever but plenty of chills and an absurd amount of perspiration I only experience during the consumption of spicy meats. I thought I was back at the water park we had visited just one week before. (That was a fun kind of wet, btw.) Gastrointestinal issues out the …. well I’ll leave them there. Coughing to an epic proportion so much that I reclaimed some abdominal muscles I had long since forgotten. One symptom I’m still battling and was surprised by was eye irritation, much like the sting of having sunscreen travel to your eyeballs. Uncomfortable burning and itching.

My only symptoms, which I’m not mad about, are having a sultriness to my voice that could only be equated to lounge singers and smooth jazz radio personalities. I kind of love it. Also, it is accompanied by a laugh that sounds like one voiced by every cartoon cat from the 1980s. You’d have to hear it for full context, but it’s husky and incites laughter to anyone who hears it. So, I would call them a cool Covid symptom duo.

I’m in quarantine for two more days, and while I’m moving past the worst of Covid, I am grateful for a few things. I’m grateful I had been vaxxed, boosted, and had avoided this virus for as long as I did. While it hit me a bit harder than my husband and daughter, I can only imagine what doomsday-like scenario awaited me had I not been vaccinated. There’s no doubt it would have been far worse. In many ways, I’m grateful I had the time to mend and to do so with my family by my side. Although the first couple of days for each of our individual experiences felt like a hybrid episode of Alone/ER, we spent a lot of time finding humor when we could. I’m grateful for the reality check of knowing that life is so completely and utterly unpredictable. You can go from a week of joyful vacationing and frolic to peeing your pants from exerted coughing spirts and sweats the next. And without any warning! I’ve learned there is always humor in both scenarios. I can always count on the humor to be the ultimate salve. Finally, I’m grateful for my close friend who continued to check in on me (via phone) to make sure my family was OK considering the circumstances. Sometimes even the offer of help during a desperate time means more than the help itself. Quality friends over quantity remains my mantra. Amirite?

While one half of my vacation took a dramatic/comedic turn, I’m choosing to not let that weigh on my mind or heart as much as it could. I can’t. As pragmatic and purposeful as I like to live my life, I’m wise enough to know that sometimes life throws us inevitable and sometimes super dupey (and often poopy) circumstances. This would qualify 1000%. It was not the vacation or staycation I had hoped it to be. However, sometimes bad things happen, and the only thing we can do is let go and let the messy chips fall. Listen to our bodies and give them the time to heal from illness and disappointment. And through it all, we must keep flexing our humor. Sometimes only humor is what navigates the fine line between peril and improvement, living and thriving, hell and excel. For me, it’s proved to be the best medicine by far.

So, dear reader, I ask you this: Did you have Covid? What was your experience like? Did you vacation this summer or have plans to do so? Please leave a comment here or email to themidlife2021@gmail.com. I would love to hear from you and grow this space. In the meantime, take care. -C:)