The house was quiet for the first time in ages. All the girls were back in school, and I was admittedly looking forward to having some time alone at home to catch up on all my projects. But as soon as school started, I got sick.
"It's just allergies," I thought as I dealt with a head full of fluff and a sore throat.
"Oh, shoot. It's not allergies," I thought when I started feeling nauseous.
"Oh, no. I know what this is," I thought when I lost my taste and smell.
I went to the doctor's office, and their test confirmed I had COVID. Because Seth, Bekah and Ana are all vaccinated, the doctor said they didn't have to quarantine at home with me; they could continue to go to school and work as long as they were always masked. The two younger kids who were not eligible to be vaccinated, on the other hand, did have to quarantine.
Thus began our 10 days of being at home together with me feeling sick and tired, and them feeling totally fine (thank goodness). The girls were eager to do any online work their teachers assigned, but where the classes were just barely getting started, teachers hadn't yet posted assignments online. So we spent a lot of days just hanging around.
When I had mustered enough energy to do more than lie around but we were still officially in quarantine, we spent a morning at the butte so we could be socially distant outside for a while. Out of necessity our pace was slower than usual, but it felt good to do something.
(Miriam was a little sniffly that day, so I took her in for a COVID test. It was negative. Nobody else in our family got it. It's two a half months later; it took a week or two to get my full strength back, but I still only have part of my taste and smell. I'm hopeful that it's coming.)
