You’ll forgive me for the unoriginal blog title, I’m still a little foggy-headed over here. I’ve been sick for a week, thereabout.

Last Thursday I cancelled a work trip to Florida on the day I was supposed to go since I woke up with a fever and cough and an insanely painful sore throat. Went to the doctor, no strep, no flu, and was told “even if we wanted to test you for coronavirus we couldn’t” since there were no tests available. Cool.

Now, the red oak tree that covers half our house was dropping so much pollen last week that my car looked yellow, and this sore throat thing seems to happen every year in spring, so when the lab work also came back as no bacteria or other known sore throat viruses, I chalked it all up to allergies. And I did start feeling better in a couple of days. And then I got worse again. I started to feel it in my sinuses, and then the world tilted and I got vertigo just trying to sit up straight. Fun.

A tele-doc appointment earlier this week (only way that doctors office would “see” patients not suspected of coronavirus) and they called in an antibiotic for what appears to have progressed to a sinus infection and ear infection (the cause of the vertigo). Couple of days of that later and I’m starting to feel better and more steady on my feet.

Needless to say having this very normal early spring sickness has made an absolutely wild start to the pandemic. Because normally I would have taken off sick this week, but instead felt I had to muscle through the sickness and vertigo as best I could what with being in management and all… as well as having taken a couple of days off for the original spring break we had so didn’t feel I could do it again so quickly… before life turned into this long dark spring break of the soul. (quasi Douglas Adams reference there.)

As for us- well. I worry for my friends and extended family, especially the ones with compromised immune systems. But for me, it’s been pretty great having the husband and kids around all the time and we all seem to be managing just fine. You know who I worry about though, aside from those I know and can put a face to? Oh man do I worry about the women and kids who have abusive spouses and families. This must be such a nightmare for them trapped in self isolation with that. My heart hurts sometimes to think of that.

But what can we do aside from our best, right? We breathe. We move on. I’m so surprised to not see any of the “Stay Calm and Carry On” memes or images that were all over the place a few years ago… because it’s good advice.

God. I can’t talk about this whole thing without seeming like a huge jerk though, you know? Because those posters were for the goddamn Blitz… and this is me staying in my comfortable house for a while. You see? You see the swings from normalcy to emergency? The mind doesn’t really know where to land now does it? Or maybe it’s just the vestiges of vertigo… WHO KNOWS?!

And I go- how far is too far? In the prep for this… was the packet of acorn squash seeds too much? Is that ridiculous? Should I be turning the whole yard into a Victory Garden now or like… will this blow over in two weeks and I should be planting zinnias?

My husband is resisting that I’d love to get chicken pullets for the children (for the children) but goodness wouldn’t having something to focus on like that be good for them in the months ahead when they’re doing school from home? And also… there are no eggs in stores so… yes? Will we be dressed all in calico in 18 months and thanking our stars for these backyard chickens as we cook over an open flame in the backyard? Or will we be trying to line up chicken sitters so we can go on a normal family vacation and they’re a huge pain in the ass? Who can say?

And I know- I KNOW- that all of that is ridiculous and honestly it isn’t where my mind is all the time. But the mind does stray there, doesn’t it?

Sigh.

Weird times, ain’t it?

The backyard is still ripped apart for the patio install. The grass has needed to be cut a few times. The husband has gotten on the river a couple of times. The older girl absolutely SLAYED it catching fish, as did the husband when he went solo. (23 bass!)

While they were on the river the 4-year-old and I went and fed ducks and walked in the park.

Were any of those beautiful ducks in that picture above her favorite? Nope.

When we went back a few days later that black Muscovy duck saw her and ran right up to her and she was so excited- so maybe they actually are friends and they were love bites?

It has absolutely POURED here a few times too, including the loudest clap of thunder I’ve ever heard that sent dogs, cats, and children scampering to our bed. And driven us inside on days we’d rather be outside and delayed the patio install some more.

The rest of the garden is in bloom though, and it is really proving to be a beautiful spring.

It’ll all work out okay.