Ben has the vid AGAIN.

 Ben texted me this photo on Saturday morning when Dorothy and I were at the Kalihari “resort” (LOL) in the WI Dells at her SHOWSTOPPER regional dance competition:

And then my head exploded.

WHAT SHOULD I DO? Stay? Go home? What about Minnie and Cooper? Who will take care of them?

My friend was like, well who cares that you have a sick husband this place is teeming with disgusting, so don’t feel like you have to leave. This was reassuring and SO not how it would have gone down a year ago. We would have rushed home immediately because CLOSE CONTACT. 

Ben assured me that he was ok, was already on the horn with his doc for Paxlovid, and could have Cooper take care of Minnie while he wore a mask and supervised from his spot far away and near an open window. This sounded shady to me, and I wished the big kids were not on an overnight speech trip (but I was also glad they were gone and not exposed because CONTAINMENT MY GOD PLEASE LET US CONTAIN THIS.)

Ben takes Covid tests every time he sneezes, so he feels like he caught it early? CROSS ALL OF THE THINGS.

Ok. So.

He has been sequestered in our room since Saturday evening when the big kids got home (Dorothy and I were gone until almost 10pm and absolutely NO HELP on Saturday).

Meanwhile, I am sleeping on the living room couch and sharing a bathroom with Minnie, Dorothy, and Cooper. I bought ALL OF THE COVID TESTS, and we are keeping close tabs on everyone (while Ben takes like 3 tests a day hoping for a negative because he is bored and has already binged 3 shows and is sick of alone time which CRY ME A GD RIVER).

We had a slight hiccup when Harry spiked a low-grade night fever and felt yucky on Sunday. He tested negative Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, but he stayed home from school on Monday and stayed in his room. This meant JACK had to also sleep on a couch. Also! Since jack and Harry traveled and roomed together over the weekend, I made Jack mask in common areas all day Sunday— he was less than happy.

As fun as it was to make food and carry food and clean up food at the beck and text of two patients on two different floors, it was also lovely to send Harry back to school today. (He was fever-free for 24 hours before he went back— I may have stayed in the Dells as a close contact, but I am not a total scumbag).

(Note: I have been annoyed with him for doing poorly on his AP US history reading quizzes this semester because JUST READ THE BOOK AND ANSWER THE QUESTIONS, but then I looked at his postwar America containment and baby boom through women’s lib quiz yesterday, and it was SO HARD. Like, I am teaching the Cold War right now, teach an entire class on US feminist social movements, and studied the baby boom for a chapter of my dissertation, and IT WAS REALLY HARD. They have to read and retain the textbook information and then read new primary source texts and make inferences. Still, it is entirely possible to ace these quizzes (or at least hopefully get a B) if you have someone reminding you to keep working and not just pick a pattern of multiple choice answers.)

SO. I am parenting ALL OF THE CHILDREN and administering a HUGE exam at work and am just covered up in grading for the special term online class I am teaching for an overage and for my adjunct online sections at the career college I adore and OMGGGGGGGGG. Ben keeps wanting to come out of his sick hole and hang out and I am like dude this whole week is a bust for me. I cannot lose another week to being sick myself. EVEN THOUGH I AM ALSO LONELY.

Thank goodness for anti-virals and vaccines— this pandemic is scary, even 3 years in, and I acknowledge our enormous privilege. I don’t want to get sick, and I really, really, really don’t want to see any of the kids get sick. So much medical theater, drama, and fear of the unknown with this virus still.

Minnie had her 2.5-year check up (MORE ON THAT LATER) yesterday and got her bivalent booster, so that’s good, at least **shrug**

35 pounds, 37.5 inches, all vaxxed up and nowhere to go.