This week, this year, this now

I was confused about where to start. November 5^th was my birthday and as we all know it has been chaotic. It is hard to think back over the year. I mean sooooo much has happened. Friendships have unraveled; there have been breaks and new alliances formed. With the advent of the pandemic there have been life-altering decisions. This much I know: it is impossible to know.

I’ve stopped saying anything is for sure. 

So after working as an election judge on Nov. 3^rd and making it through a long day of possible Covid exposure and in general a long day of work, I decided to reward myself by signing up for a writing craft class through OCWW. It was a breath of fresh air, reminding me of my “old” life—BUT, chaos broke through. I got a text that someone I knew had tested positive for Covid. I immediately was thrown in quarantine. 

Even the person dropping off a present at my door had to hurry away as she was also exposed to this same person. We were caught up in a Covid dragnet. But first, I was trying to come to terms that 1) it was my birthday and not only was I not going out for lunch but 2) there would be no lunch at all. I started crying. Then my daughter called and like any good millennial she called up my favorite restaurant and ordered lunch delivered by GrubHub. So that was at least done—I got to eat something fun on my birthday.

Afterwards, the few of us caught up in the Covid dragnet began making our way over to the shelter where we volunteer to take a nose swab test. Results would take days and until we got them we’d have to quarantine.

The one bright spot I had was rubbed out. I, of course, was feeling sorry for myself. Not only could I not eat my birthday cake, but it was being held hostage in a fridge I couldn’t get to. I’d have to wait to see what it looked like.

Meanwhile, waiting for my test results I was waiting for election results. It was all too much. I set the alarm for 5 a.m. to make a jailbreak and run along the lake front. I did jumping jacks while refreshing the various news websites. It was a lot of jumping jacks as everything was slow. Friday I awoke to several states turning a pale blue.

I just wanted to know.

I kept thinking this was the strangest unhappy birthday ever. Then, finally, on Saturday night when my friends were out celebrating in the streets, I got a call that I was negative. Yay! Out of quarantine, I could have my cake and eat it too.