Good evening folks. Tonight I will be discussing my current woes, since I am too drained for much else. My partner’s family is Christian, and his mother is very religious so it’s important to him that we go see them during this time. The problem? This requires flying, and I have Long Covid.
Last year we did this trip and made it through unscathed. We wore good masks the whole time, chose the days to fly that are quietest, and were indoors with others in only very small settings with testing in advance. No Covid showed up. It was a very nice time, if still hampered by safety protocols for Covid.
This year? We’ve been out running it. We flew in to Columbus on Monday the 18th and stayed with a friend for two days. After that we were to go to a different place I usually stay with when I’m in town, on night three. This is usually my safe space during the holidays- the place where I can escape to, when I am exhausted from Mother in-law’s well intentioned, but far too often Christian supremacist behavior. Well, Tuesday night I get a call from happy times safe place, and they have Covid. Okay, now we’re staying at original friend’s longer. But we can’t stay forever. On Friday, partner’s family is supposed to pick us up and take us to theirs.
Friday morning we get a call from his family. His brother has covid. We have overstayed our welcome at first friend’s, he needs us out. We find friends in a totally different city who are leaving home the next day and will have a cozy house for us to stay with two lovely cats. So we Uber out to happy safe friend’s place who let us borrow a car. We pick it up from our covid sick friends without contact, and without incident. We then go to friend who lives near cat friends, since cat friends can’t vacate yet. Everyone is testing. Next day we arrive in happy cat house, and it is glorious. We finally feel safe. That’s Saturday, the 23rd.
By Tuesday 26th, no one else in his family has gotten sick yet. (Brother started getting symptoms Thursday 21st). We figure there’s a decent chance his viral load is a lot better, and family (who has been testing) would probably be presenting symptoms and testing positive already. We want to see them at some point for the holiday. We decide to meet on their sizeable porch. It’s not covered, so good airflow. We’re all masked and about 10feet apart.
Today we find out his mother has Covid. Ugh! We’re feeling fine for now. When I had an exposure last year, I was sick in less than 48 hours. Here’s to hoping we didn’t catch it, and can continue to avoid it. Additionally, we saw a couple friends who had recent fully masked confirmed exposures. But we saw them outdoors.
And it’s not over. We’re leaving the 1st during the day, because it’s a low travel time. We still have to return car to friends who got sick on Tuesday 20th. And we will probably have to stay with them at least one night, though they shouldn't be contagious by then, and their house is so large we can effectively socially distance.
On the plus side, I’m always a little uncomfortable celebrating the birth of Jesus, and miss my tradition of Chinese food and staying home. So I enjoyed the silver lining of not having to celebrate formally on this 25th, and not having anyone ask me to attend church.
It’s wild out there. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers for safety, and a swift recovery if I do have the misfortune of catching Covid. I am fully vaxed and boosted, but that was true last year when I caught it in August too, and I still had a rough ride, and haven’t yet gotten to my previous baseline. I hope I tomorrow brings in a restful, peaceful Shabbos, with good health.
I’m posting this Monkees tune, “Here Comes Tomorrow” because I am really feeling the anxiety of constant decision making and worrying about tomorrow w/regard to Covid on this trip. Lookout, indeed. I wish I had Davy’s problem instead. Tork had Jewish roots. But the way I’m really justifying this is that that the famous Neil Diamond, writer of the song, is of course Jewish.
I know a lot of folks here have mixed families. How has this past week been? Hope it hasn’t had too much friction, stress or covid. This is our weekly check-in on DailyKos. This is an open thread, safe-space for Jewish folks here, so we ask that non-Jews listen more than speak.