Late to the Game

“I’m late, I’m late
For a very important date.
No time to say hello, good-bye,
I’m late, I’m late, I’m late”

― The White Rabbit

March 27 had been circled on my calendar for months. Several of my friends had purchased tickets to see Bruce Springsteen in concert, and I was to travel to D.C. and go with them to this rockin’ event.

It takes me weeks to prepare to be away. I have two homes to get ready, dogs to kennel, mail, newspapers, and deliveries to organize, and packing up me and my work-life to take to the road. The trip was to include D.C. and a few special visits — then on to Williamsburg to dwell in the 1700s while enjoying the onset of spring, southern cuisine, and the celebration of my uncle’s soon-to-be 100^—birthday.

It all began as smoothly as a road trip can. I have lost the ability to pack efficiently and so the car was a hodge-podge of bags and boxes. The dogs were settled into their favorite kennel and didn’t look back to say goodbye. I drove the miles arriving in time to unpack, change, and enjoy a meal before the concert.

I was bedazzled by the E-Street Band and brasses. Bruce sang for three hours continuously without a pause and kept us on our feet all night. For the next two days my friends and I played Springsteen on every device in the house. I had traveled back in time to my college years and forward in season into the Cherry Blossom sunshine of Virginia, Maryland, and D.C. What a fabulous way to begin a vacation with friends!

Each of us worked in a different room of my friends’ home until the end of the week when we were to drive to Williamsburg.

I am somewhat late to the game (so say my friends) in testing positive for COVID.

I now realize that I have been functioning in the world without concern for the virus for a while. I still wash my hands and use the sanitizer when offered. I mask when requested. But otherwise, I share food, offer hugs and kisses, and generally have let down my guard. I still acknowledge the reporting on COVID, practice caution in certain situations, but being vaccinated and boostered caused the virus to be out of sight and out of my thinking. It is never top of mind anymore.

So I am glad that I still pack like I am planning a long-term invasion. I had COVID tests and other stuff in a bag. And my travel mates are the kind you want to have in a crisis. After making the drive to Williamsburg and waking after a very rough night’s sleep I tested positive for COVID – the experience got real.

I have tried to keep up with the protocols. I have leaned in to support friends and clients. I haven’t had firsthand experience but thought I knew what to expect. That’s when the lessons rain down upon you.

In the beginning I tried to remain in control. Futile.

In the middle I struggled with loss of control and abilities.

I vacillated between gratitude, resistance, silliness, sloth-like abandonment, and compliance. I lost my mental clarity, gained hours back of sleep time, rediscovered dreams, let go of work and then the world, and have floated through the five days of Paxlovid and quarantine in a drowsy state of mind.

I have been well cared for. The dogs have been well cared for— I check in every day. The world has rolled on. And I can now really understand just a little of how this pandemic has affected, does affect\ and will continue to affect us all.

On the second day — when my friends poured me into the car for a trip back to their home outside of D.C. where we could recover if they became infected (which they did) — I started notes for a blog with these initial observations:

The “COVID positive” scenario did not play out this way in my brain.

I had been operating in the world as if I were immune.

 

I am even more grateful today for the clinicians and vaccines and boosters.

I know that I am truly blessed with the friendship of many and especially the competent couple I chose to share a vacation with.

 

Do you have friends — ride or die people — who could live with an unexpected guest who wanders around in PJs?

I am humbled in so many ways. Grateful for many more.

And thrilled that COVID doesn’t affect my sense of humor – just the speed at which it processes.

I have a new perspective and appreciation for all that others have experienced.

I look forward to picking up my positive attitude and take-action approach to life when it returns to my body. I won’t take it for granted going forward.

Fortunately for me, this was just a speed bump.

I didn’t know if I would be able to write a blog about my experience, so I consulted the popular ChatGPT Artificial Intelligence for a hand in writing. I asked for something inspired by Dr. Suess and this is the AI collaboration:

Late to the game, but still in the race,
I’ve learned a lesson that I can’t replace.
I thought I was immune, who nothing could touch,
But life had other plans, and it hit me as such.

Grateful for vaccines and boosters abundant ,
And friends who’ve been there and but never redundant.
Humbled by experience from all of the others,
The challenges they faced,
with their sisters and brothers.

Now I see from a brand new perspective,
And appreciate every moment, as if it’s reflective
Of the positive attitude, I’ll bring to each day,
When I’m back on my feet, and ready to play.

Until then, I’ll rest, and take it all in.
Reflect on my journey, and where to begin.
See you after quarantine, my friends,
When the game renews and we start all over again.

Have you had an unexpected experience as Spring unfolds? Can you still be surprised by some new experience?

I am late to the COVID party but so very grateful to have joined in the fray when we’ve made so much progress. I like to be an early adapter in most things. But in this being slow on the uptake has been much to my advantage. Maybe the biggest lesson of all is to appreciate the pause and gift of time I have been given and to return to my responsibilities at a pace that permits relishing the view.

Leslie

“We live in a culture full of hares:
but the tortoise always wins.
Tortoises can tell you more about the road than hares.”

— Dave Ramsey