Christmas 2020

I sincerely hope you’ve all had yourself a Merry Little Christmas? Ours turned out well, although I have to admit it was a rough start for me.

This is the first Christmas without mom. And, although she hadn’t had a good year last year, she was still able to smile when we took our Christmas photo with her.

What’s worse – is Vince and I are recovering from nasty cases of COVID-19.  We’ve spent the past couple weeks struggling to breathe without coughing and sleeping more hours than we were awake.

Vince lost his senses of taste and smell. Which was actually a good thing for me – because I wasn’t really interested in showering – or able to, for that matter. Who knew standing took such effort?

Walking the dog was a lesson in perseverance as neither of us had the energy, but, well, dogs don’t much care that you’re fighting a virus. They still need to walk and sniff and piddle and poo.

Christmas 2019 with mom

But we have some amazing neighbors who took special care of us – from a distance, of course. When we were at our worst, they dropped off soups and fresh fruit. Another neighbor picked up a pizza one Sunday night for themselves – and dropped off a second pizza at our front door for us.

One neighbor made a special trip to drop off a bottle of zinc supplements after we’d run out and then another neighbor brought us a much-needed bottle of Nyquil cough syrup to help us sleep at night.

And just yesterday a neighbor dropped off some Christmas cookies; something we hadn’t even thought about baking this year.

We have some pretty incredible neighbors, don't we?

Ever since I became a part of Vince’s family, we’ve spent every Christmas Eve together.  We have lots of food and drink and – before her unexpected death last year, his stepmother Marilyn and her daughter Michele bought and wrapped a mountain of gifts for us all. It was a pretty amazing sight to see.

This year, however, the family decided to postpone our Christmas gathering since Vince and I had been sick. Nobody wanted us to share the virus.

I get it. I wouldn’t want to share this virus with anyone – let alone people we care about.  So we'll wait to get together with family until the New Year.

We had written our Christmas letter right after Thanksgiving this year – and mailed it well before we got sick. This is evidenced by the line I wrote, “Well, for one thing, our household is currently healthy and happy. And that is a huge thing for which to be grateful.”

Truer words.

Sadly, we learned that one of our relatives was telling others not to open our card or read our letter as they were concerned they’d catch COVID by doing so.

I’d like to think that we’d be more caring about our family and friends not to let anyone open something that even had the remote possibility of containing the virus.

But we just kept on rolling with the punches.

I had barely shopped for Christmas – so I only had a couple gifts for Vince. And I didn’t bother wrapping them. I just brought them downstairs and handed them to him. So prepared, right?

Vince knew that I wasn't feeling very festive and he gave me lots of extra hugs today. Moreover, he planned an amazing Christmas dinner for the two of us to share.

It was interesting – I haven’t had much of an appetite since the start of our illness – and Vince can’t taste or smell. But we shared a delicious beef roast, fingerling potatoes, corn and salads.

I even poured us glasses of wine, but couldn’t manage to finish even one glass.

Oh well. We gave it a shot!

What I realized as the day went on was that it didn’t matter that we didn’t have mounds of gifts under the tree. It didn’t matter that we weren’t surrounded by lots of other people. 

What really matters is that we are returning to good health – something so many have been denied.

What really matters is that I have a husband who loves me unconditionally. Who loves me enough to allow me a melancholy moment, but also asks me to recall some of my favorite childhood Christmas memories.  And that made me smile.

So despite the sad start to my Christmas 2020, it has a happy ending. And carries with it a feeling of hope for the future.

And my wish is for all you to have a healthy and happy New Year. 

Let’s put this one behind us, shall we?

 

The Nasty Germs Got Me!

You know that moment when you realize you’re getting sick? When you’re actually aware of the glands in your neck (the very same glands that never ever cross your mind except when you’re sick)? When your eyes feel scratchy and there’s that vague headachy feeling behind them? And when you’ve sneezed for the third time in as many minutes – and there isn’t one little speck of ragweed lying in wait – so you know it’s not your allergies kicking in.

Yeah, that’s where I am right now. I’m pretty sure I’m getting sick and, given that it’s Friday, I’m pretty bummed out about it. There’s nothin’ worse than being sick all weekend. Well, except for maybe getting sick on Monday morning and then having to work all week while coughing, sneezing and blowing your nose and feeling pretty much like doody.

So I suppose there are worse things than having the opportunity to rest and drink plenty of liquids all weekend long. Maybe by the time Monday rolls around I will be feeling a bit better.

Of course, I could be jumping the gun and the cold I’m trying to catch won’t really take hold. After all, I’ve been popping Airborne pills and Vitamin C tablets and every other non-proven cold remedy known to man for days now.

Why? Well, because Vince has a cold, which he has been enduring and dealing with for the past five days. Poor guy. Guess it’s a good thing we bought that ginormous pallet of Kleenex at Costco the other week.

Fortunately, he’s started feeling a bit better in the past 24 hours so we think he’s going to make it. Yay. And since I hadn’t yet gotten sick, I sort of figured that I was in the clear.

Heck, I’ve been so enthusiastically patting myself on the back for having avoided catching his cold, I’ve risked a rotator cuff injury. Hmph. Perhaps I was a bit premature in my self-congratulations?

But, hey, it seemed reasonable that his cold passed me by. Because, I mean, I’ve spent so much time this past week washing my hands that they’re now dry, scaly and practically crunchy. And I’ve become hyper-aware of keeping my hands away from my eyes, nose and mouth, which is hard to do because apparently I rub my eyes, nose and mouth a lot – especially when I know I shouldn’t because it’s a good way to introduce nasty cold germs into your formerly healthy body. Not only that, but Vince and I have been living like distant roommates all week with only an occasional wave to each other from across the room.

On the other hand, his sneezes are amazingly forceful and so incredibly loud that they can startle someone a block away. Seriously. Whenever he sneezes, the cats run and hide. So I’m sure that his germs have managed to infiltrate my sinuses despite all my efforts at keeping my hands away from my face.

Sigh.

Oh well. It’s not like it’s his fault. Usually I’m the one who catches the cold first and then passes it on to him.

Other than being a little quieter than usual and heading to bed earlier than normal, Vince has been a great patient. He’s eaten his chicken noodle soup and taken his Nyquil in the evening and Dayquil in the morning. And he hasn’t complained too much.

So if I have, in fact, caught his cold, I’m going to do my best to refrain from whining about it.

I just hope we still have some Nyquil left in the medicine cabinet. I have a feeling I’m gonna need it.

A Blog-Worthy Holiday Weekend?

Last week I had the Plague. Well, not really. I wasn’t deathly ill or anything, but I did have an elevated temperature on and off for 3-1/2 days. This sucked because I was forced to wash my hair every day. I hate washing my hair every day. And, besides, being sick in general sucks.

So I spent my time shivering and covered up in as many layers as possible – or, once my many fevers broke, I was a sweaty, stringy-haired mess. Thus, all the showering and hair washing.

Let’s just say that I am NOT looking forward to hot flashes.

And, yes, by the way – I did go to a doctor and, yes, I did get prescription medication. Fortunately, those little pills in that Z-pack seem to have warded off the evil spirits, which is a good thing because otherwise I was thinking about calling in an exorcist.

I worked for most of that time, but people around the office tended to stay away from me. Hmm. Wonder why? Was it that my stringy, plastered-to-my-head hair was distasteful? Or did they just not want to catch my cooties? Probably it was more likely my snarly disposition. Unfortunately, when I’m sick but still have to report to work, I’m a little less, uh, agreeable than normal.

Having a “slightly elevated” temperature is worse than a flat-out, near-death fever, too. Because when you’re at that latter stage, nobody expects you to wash the breakfast dishes, pick up the dry cleaning or deal with the annoying vendor who is desperately trying to make a sale. Being “slightly” sick means you still have to do all those things, but because you’re not feeling well, you’re way crankier than usual when doing them.

Plus, you don’t get much sympathy when you’re not majorly sick. Well, except from Mom. Yeah, I was lucky – mom called every day to check on me. Made me feel a little better, too.

So, anyway, I didn’t write any blogs. I don’t think the word “blog” even crossed my mind last week. See what happens to creativity when the Plague hits? It disappeared right along with my well-coiffed ‘do.

But. I’m baaaaack. Now… what am I going to write about?

If I hadn’t been sick last week, I could’ve written about our fun weekend in Cincinnati to watch the Indians vs. Reds baseball game. Indians won, I hear.

But, um, we didn’t go.

Or I could write about the dazzling fireworks display that lit up the sky in downtown Columbus or the many suburban fireworks displays.

Except…we didn’t go anywhere and sit on a blanket and watch any.

Yeah, I can see where this is headed. I’m going to have to start making stuff up pretty soon.

On the other hand, we did sit on the couch and watch Red White & Boom on TV. We even watched the Boston Pops and the spectacular fireworks display set off in the Boston Harbor.

So that was something. Besides, watching fireworks from the comfort of the couch wasn’t all that bad. We didn’t have to deal with the heat or the crowds. Our restroom facility was only five feet away and was (most importantly), not a Port-O-John. And we could have a beer or two without designating a driver or worrying about getting behind the wheel of a car afterwards.

All good things.

So, on the whole, it wasn’t a bad holiday weekend. Plus, I had a couple extra days to fully recover from the Plague. Oh, and I also got caught up on the laundry. Yay.

But was it blog-worthy? Eh, probably not. But that just makes you appreciate the truly blog-worthy subjects – doesn’t it?

Sigh. Maybe I need to plan another road trip…

Oh well. I didn’t want you to forget that I sometimes write a blog. So I wish you a Happy Hump Day, folks. Hope your day is blog-worthy.