It was a good run.

I kept COVID away for 2 years, but finally tested positive on Tuesday.

My biggest take away? I’m super grateful for my COVID (x 3), Flu and Pneumonia vaccines.

I’ve had numerous sore throats, bouts of nasal congestion, head aches, etc. over the past 2 years, always assuming the worst, that I had COVID. I’m not alone with this, by any means. With so many people worldwide having been impacted by COVID in the past 2 years, how can you not be concerned? However, when Chicagoland schools went mask optional in March, I was experiencing a full on cold within a week and had to take two days off of work. Mind you, I did not stop masking, but many of the people that I was surrounded by, did (and I’m at a school that has a 47% vaccination rate). I was also testing for COVID every week at school. My cold? I took 4 COVID tests over a week period and they all came back negative. Not so, this past week. I went back to Michigan for Mother’s Day to visit family and lo and behold, started coughing Monday afternoon.  Nothing too serious, considering all of the allergies kicking into high gear with the heat wave sweeping the Midwest, right? Well, on Tuesday, I took my weekly COVID test at school, but did not know when I would get results back and since I had an appointment with a dental specialist on Wednesday, decided to take a home test after school. Positive. Ok, well, it’s a home test, so I headed off to a testing site. Rapid test came back a half an hour later: Positive. And so did the PCR test results I got back on Wednesday and the school results on Thursday. No dental specialist appointment for me.

My cough has been my main symptom, as well as fatigue. It has been a mild version of a cough for the most part; however, this cough is like the ones I’ve had in the past that blew up in to bronchitis, pre-pneumonia, or asthma. It’s definitely been based in my lungs and aggravated by my talking. Needless to say, I’ve taken it seriously and haven’t been talking much! Talk about a reality check on the importance of vaccines!

“Just life forcing you to take a break again.” So true, as my dear Antiguan sister, Marcella, reminded me.

My biggest challenge has been forcing myself to step off the treadmill of my life to rest. This has been my biggest challenge the past two decades–the past decade, in particular. Teaching. Breast cancer. Life in flux and experiencing life changing loss. Taking on too much and not knowing how to set down boundaries. And, not knowing how to carve out breaks to re-energize.

Nothing quite like COVID stepping in and saying “Time Out.”

I hit my rest goal on Friday, though. I can’t remember the last time I sat on the deck, on a beautiful day, with a good book to read.

Stay healthy, my friends.

And, I’m sure inquiring minds want to know: where did I catch it? Just like the heat, COVID has been blazing across the Midwest and numbers are high in both Chicago and Michigan. Did I bring it with me from Chicago, catch it on the train, or was exposed to it at dinner? We will never know.