I’ma just come right out and say it folks: These past few months have been hard. Some days feel frustrating, redundant, boring, confusing, and sometimes all together unremarkable. I certainly can’t speak for anyone but myself, but I’d imagine most of us are feeling this is the THICK of it, right? We’ve gone through 11 months of quarantine by now, and I feel like we are back to where we started! Stuck in our homes with no where to go, nothing to do.
Yes, we’ve come a long way with vaccines being created and getting distributed, but it will take months to get the majority of the population vaccinated; years until people feel comfortable sharing the same air without the guard of a mask. We are all in this perpetual state of “so close, yet so far,” and I think it hurts more, the closer we approach our imagined new freedoms. Maybe it’s because the finish line keeps inching further beyond our reach. It’s difficult to tell if the finish line is even out there. Is it just an illusion? Or are we on an entirely different track than we were before?
This past week is a good example of that. The kids were out of school on winter break, so in effort to make the most of our time, we decided to go out east for 2 days. We rented a pet-friendly room at a hotel with a pool and hot tub. Yay! Mini vacation!
Little did we know, half of Long Island had the same idea as we did, so the pool/hot tub was only available by reservations only. Bummer…but it’s ok…we’ll go swimming tomorrow!
Let’s go get some food at the hotel restaurant!
What’s that? Your kitchen closed already???
Oh…ok…
But not really…night #1 was starting to feel pretty LAME-O! We quickly recovered…went out to eat downtown, then returned to watch too much Netflix while the kids played too much Nintendo. It was a perfectly indulgent night of doing nothing, for a family that has nothing better to do.
The next 2 days, Jay woke up at 6:57am just to call the hotel lobby by 7am to reserve our pool reservation for each day. I’m not sure if there’s a better example that could show how much Jay loves his kids. Besides our kids’ soccer games, Jay’s marathon training, or airline reservations to a tropical destination, good luck finding a reason to get Jay out of bed before 9am on his day off! You do remember he’s a chef, right? But pool reservations, was an obvious must-make-happen for this micro winter-getaway!
We had our fun out east; it was short and sweet. When we returned, we sent the kids to YMCA camp for 2 days so I could catch up on work, and Jay could prep for a catering gig. The kids loved it, had a blast meeting new friends, and then we rolled into the final weekend of winter break with no obligations to world, except to travel soccer, of course! Things were starting to feel somewhat normal, I guess; at least the new state of “normal” we’ve learned to expect and accept.
Silly me…there I go again sitting back on my heels, getting cozy. That’s why I was blindsided when the camp called me Monday morning to tell me someone in Liam’s class tested positive for COVID.
“I’m sorry………what?”
“Yes, and unfortunately due to NY state contact tracing rules, Liam now has to go into quarantine until March 1st”
“Um….I’m sorry………..WHAT?!”
I couldn’t help but be angry, immediately. In effort to make sense of the situation, it was as if my brain was trying to personify COVID into some schoolyard bully. It isn’t FAIR that MY son has to go to detention because some other snot-nosed kid picked a fight with him…yes, I exaggerate; yes, I realize it’s not the other kid’s fault…but I couldn’t help but feel slighted.
NONE OF THIS IS FAIR! It’s been 11 months and we’ve been lucky enough to dodge this virus the whole time. We’ve been following CDC guidelines, and we’ve limited exposure beyond anyone outside their school classrooms and soccer teams for almost a full year. But literally, the first time we place them in a camp that’s outside our local network, BOOM! We get a scare!
“Someone from the Suffolk County Department of Health will be in touch with you with further details.”
“So let me get this straight: I sent my kids to camp for 2 days during
winter break, only for them to have to miss over a week of school???”
Oh, this poor woman, who was simply the Bearer of Bad News to a group of unlucky and unsuspecting parents…I hope I was her last call that morning. If not, I’m thinking she might have passed the “bad news bear” baton over to someone else after we hung up.
After I collected myself and stopped my sulking, we started on our next fun adventure of day: FAMILY COVID TESTS, yay!
Woah, there…no pushing! Form a line…Don’t worry, kids! There’s a nasal swab available for each of us! Maybe even 3 swabs if you’re lucky enough to get the rapid test plus the PCR.
Have you had COVID test yet? If not, let me tell you, that is MOTIVATION to keep wearing your mask! After the first swab, I was seeing stars. All I could say was “HOLY $#@*!!!!!” The nurse asked me if I was ready for the next and without hesitation I said “Hell no, I’m not!” I may have been laughing, but that was NO JOKE.
Needless to say, its been a crazy week, but luckily all our test results came back negative, so we are super thankful about that! Yes, it’s stinks that Liam and Rowen had to miss school, but in the big scheme of things, it’s better to be safe than sorry. We’re just happy to know we are all healthy and we aren’t unknowingly passing along the virus to others.
So like the rest of ya’ll, the Potter Fam is going to keep on keepin’ on. Making the most of what we got, and always searching for the silver linings. We are hoping you are doing well and hangin in there, too!
Be well, Cromwell (and beyond)!
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