Don’t Say Covid
Florida is a weird state. I love the sunshine, the palm trees and the weather in January. But in a lot of ways it’s a strange place to live. Our experience of the pandemic was quite different from other states. We had an initial lockdown in March of 2020 which lasted for eight weeks and then… we pretty much opened everything back up. Yes, people wore masks (although there was a LOT of initial pushback on that) but most places, including restaurants, shopping malls, and bars, were open. Schools were closed from March of 2020 until the end of that school year, but opened again in September. There was a virtual option and in-person classrooms were about 50% full. Masks were strongly encouraged but the schools weren’t allowed to officially mandate them. That was a transitional year, but for quite some time now we’ve been back to “normal.” In addition to our illustrious leader’s “Don’t Say Gay” policy (yes, a bright and shining moment for Floridians! *cringe*) it seems like Florida’s other motto is “Don’t Say Covid.” The day we left for our trip to Tampa, one of my clients told me there’s a new Covid variant, one that’s resistant to the boosters and highly contagious. PERFECT! I was about to attend a large convention with thousands of people- what we used to call a “super spreader” when we used such language. I though about wearing a mask, but no one else was, and besides, my daughter was playing the flute all day in a band full of mask-less kids, so… que sera, sera. Besides, this is the Free State of Florida- we don’t say Covid! You might be able to guess where this is going. On Friday of last week- five days after we returned from Tampa- my husband said “It’s so strange- the last couple days my runs have felt terrible. I don’t seem to have any energy.” Huh! That is strange. Saturday he was extremely fatigued, and Sunday he slept for half the day. Sunday evening he said “I can’t decide if I should go to work tomorrow.” I said “Why don’t you decide AFTER YOU TAKE A COVID TEST.” He did and, obviously, it was positive. Sigh. His two worst days were Saturday and Sunday, but he’s still fatigued and congested. Of course he stayed home from work, but as I was leaving yesterday morning he asked if I needed him to run out and get anything. What? NO! You have to stay home because YOU HAVE COVID. Then, he was thinking he might go to work today. I asked what in the world would give him that notion, and he said “Well, I don’t want to just sit around at home!” Ah. Well, that’s unfortunately what you have to do when you’re in quarantine. Because you have COVID. Sheesh. Of course now I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. We’ve both had Covid before, but not at the same time. My husband had it in the summer of 2021, but no one else in the family got it. Then, as I’ve mentioned many times, my son and I had Covid last Christmas, but my husband never got it from us. So…. you never know. Maybe I’ll be lucky and our streak will continue. On a lighter note, I have new tea. In this post,, Suzanne talked about her tea collection. Our tastes are almost identical, and she described two Earl Grey teas she loves. She made them sound so delicious that I ordered both of them. One is being shipped from Canada and won’t be here till next week, but this one arrived yesterday from Amazon. I was pretty sure I would love it, because my complaint with most Earl Greys is that the bergamot isn’t strong enough. I was not disappointed! As a matter of fact, for a moment I thought the bergamot was TOO strong, but then I realized that you can never have too much bergamot. This was the perfect amount. If I do get Covid, I will at least have lots of tea to drink! Do you still wear a mask? Have you had Covid?