Back in November I decided that it was time to go an visit my surviving Mom. I am lucky guy, I have or should I say, had two moms. Last year at this time I lost my Bio-mom to Covid. My step-mom lives in Cleveland and I am in California. She is getting up there in age, and I am constantly aware that time is passing ever so quickly. I didn’t get to see my bio-mom before she passed, and it had been at least three years since the the last time I got to spend time with her. So, I started to look at Air fares was planning a Christmas surprise. But within 24 hours the ticket prices jumped so fast that my procrastination about which dates to fly on, forced me to have to change my plans. So, I scheduled my trip for January 6th. The price for the ticket was so cheap, that I would have had an extra wad of cash to spend on spoiling her while I was there with some really nice dinners and a few extra Christmas gifts.
However, ever increasing news about the Omicron Variant, flight cancellations, and spikes in new cases, and all that negative crud had me a little worried. I decided that if my flight was not canceled I would go ahead and wear my full face snorkel mask with an N95 filter attached to make sure that I was not exposed during my transit to Cleveland. I figure with my mom in her 80’s I was not going to be the one to expose her to anything by risking flying during such a rapid increase in cases and risk her life.
Yesterday morning I started to make my packing list when my mom called. She had bad news, my mom, my aunt, my mom’s neighbor, and their best friend had gone to a get-together just a few days earlier and one of the other ladies that was present had a runny nose and a cough. She swore it was not Covid, but admitted that she had not been tested, even though she lived in a retirement community that offers free testing for all members of their community no questions asked. Days earlier my aunt had recommended that she make use of the free testing and get tested before their get together. But she refused the advice and request. Then on January first the retirement community mandated that all residents be tested, and her results were positive, and she was contagious.
My mom was in tears when she called. She knows that I have asthma and underlying respiratory issues and that both my aunt and her are trying to get tested but she said that every testing place she has tried has a two week or more waiting period, because everyone is getting tested and they don’t have enough tests. We have not seen each other in several years, we talk on the phone all the time but it’s not the same. If she gets sick, I would not be allowed to visit her in the hospital, If she dies I will have lost another family member without having had a chance to say goodbye. So now I am stuck, I have to cancel my flight, call her every day and hope to God that she is okay. I am going to have to wait for the current spike to subside and then reschedule my trip. I just hope that I get that chance.
And all of this is because one woman refused to get tested, refused to consider the health and well being of those around her, and now we all have to pay for her selfishness. The test was free, her retirement community offered it to anyone that wanted one, and then finally when there seemed to be an outbreak they mandated testing. Probably because she was part of the problem spreading to everyone. If they had not mandated it, I just wonder how many others she would have infected.
People that get sick, should know to get tested. I have been tested twice within the past 3 weeks because my asthma has been acting up, and just to be on the safe side and in preparation for my trip to see her. It would kill me to discover that I had it, gave it to her, and then she wound up dead because of me. But then again I am not a selfish person, concerned with my own needs first, like some others out there.