One week down

We made it to the end of the week. It felt like two weeks, maybe even three. I’m bone tired, and it’s only just begun.

As I expected, it’s better, but it sure ain’t easier.

There is more to say, about how hard it is to wear a proper mask all day. About how wet my face gets from the sweat and my breath. About how hard it is to learn who the kids are when 2/3s of their faces are covered. About how all three of our schools have had notices of Covid exposure, but that none of us has been a close contact yet.

Every night it feels like I’m maybe getting sick. My ears ring and my throat is tickley. But I wake up the next morning feeling better and I know it’s just exhaustion. I wish I could get tested regularly but my work won’t pay for it and Kaiser has long waits for testing and longer waits for results. In either case I have to lie and say I have symptoms to be tested.

It’s going to be a really long fall, but seeing how happy my kids are at school, in the same room with their teachers and out on the playgrounds with their friends, gives me the strength to face it. I’m sure they will get sick before they are offered the vaccine, but hopefully their masks will keep their bouts mild. That’s my hope at this point.

I am so thankful we live in an area where masks are not a flash point. Our incredibly high vaccination rates might not have saved us, but hopefully our willingness to wear masks will.

Now we need to keep our fingers crossed that our air quality won’t plummet. That is when things will really get hard.

I know there are more important things happening in the world. More tragic devastation coming to pass. It puts things in perspective.

I’m really grateful it’s the weekend. I need these two days to rest and unwind.