The relative normalcy of the last few months deluded me into believing I had control of my life again, that I could make intricate plans requiring everything to go ‘just so’ with no contingencies whatsoever. Silly Sarah, you never learn! The crazy part is, I get that control is an illusion. I’ve had my foolproof plans smashed to pieces over and over again, especially during COVID. And yet, for some reason my brain refuses to accept this lesson and adapt accordingly. Yesterday was a classic case in point.
Packout got off to a rough start on Monday. The movers showed up 90 minutes late without air freight boxes, which is what we always pack first to ensure we utilize all that poundage. We were not happy and some harsh words were exchanged. Thankfully, the team got their act together after that, and by some miracle, had all 3200 lbs of our boat freight and all 420 lbs of our air freight boxed up by 6 P.M.
Tuesday began with a more promising start. Our displeasure from the day before had incentivized the crew to arrive ahead-of-time Tuesday, allowing us to start at 8:30 instead of 11:30. I watched with delight as our 90 boxes were weighed and sent down the elevator one by one. When the last box departed at 1 PM, Nick and I high-fived each other for successfully completing our packout in 1.5 days instead of 3 and coming in well under our weight limit.
I’d been organizing and prepping our stuff non-stop since Friday with Nick down for the count from the stomach flu that’d been going around. I hadn’t paid much attention to my body on Monday and Tuesday because I’d been so focused on everything ending up in the right box. It wasn’t until I laid down on the bed to relax Tuesday afternoon that I noticed the achiness and fatigue in my body. I simply chalked it up to the stress of moving and remedied it with a long nap.
I woke up refreshed two hours later and spent the rest of the day tidying up and keeping Nia entertained. It was amazed how empty the house felt without our things. Granted, the bedrooms still felt pretty normal with beds and dressers, and the dining room still had all it’s furniture, but every other room was pretty darn bare. A couple couches in the living room, a few end tables here and there. That was about it. I was grateful we were heading out for Greece Saturday morning so I wouldn’t have to spend much time in this depressing space.
I slept hard Tuesday night. I’d been sleeping with Nia in the Master Bed since the previous Thursday when Nick had started begun showing stomach flu symptoms. When Nia and I woke up Wednesday morning and turned to snuggle with each other, I noticed that she was sniffling a bunch. “How you feeling honey? I asked. “Okay, I guess. I have a runny nose and my throat hurts.” I, too, had woken up feeling quite congested and had been coughing occasionally during the night. I assumed we had picked up what Nick had, which was annoying given that we were leaving for Greece in 72 hours.
I decided to try and get ahead of it by going to our medical unit for walk-in hours at 8:30 AM. As I thought, I had no temp and my blood pressure was normal. “Maybe some cold & flu medicine?” I suggested. “Sure,” the nurse replied, “Let’s just do a quick COVID test first.” Annoyance flared again. I did not have COVID. This was clearly just a cold, since I’d been around Nick for the last six days (and he’d tested negative). “All, right, fine. You can run it. I don’t think that’s it though.” She nodded understandingly. “Let’s do it just to rule it out.”
After three minutes or so the Doctor–who I hadn’t seen yet that day–came in and got right to the point. “You have COVID.” I looked at him in disbelief. “You can’t be serious. I’ve made it 2 1/2 years without getting COVID. I have four Moderna doses in me already with a fifth scheduled for Friday. That can’t be right.” He looked like he’d heard this before, replying, “Why don’t you go home and take another antigen test? Have Nick and Nia do one too.” I interjected, sounding way whinier than I would have preferred, “But I’m flying to Greece on Saturday for a two week trip. I have my TB test today, my booster Friday, my walls being painted Saturday. This is not good timing.” I took a breath, then asked hopefully, “It could be a false positive, right?” “Yes, Sarah, I suppose it could, but it’s a very, very slim chance. You likely have COVID.” I left with pills in hand, staunchly in denial.
When I got home, I immediately sent our helper home (just in case) and ordered antigen tests for the family from the pharmacy (thank God that pharmacies deliver to your apartment here). I found Nick and told him about my first test, and that we all should do one. When the tests arrived 20 minutes later, we went through the process and were shocked to find out that not only did I have it, but Nick and Nia did too! Of all the bad luck. We definitely wouldn’t be going to Greece on Saturday now…
If we wanted to get our flights changed or refunded, we needed to do PCR tests, so the health unit helped us set up that appointment. The technician showed up at our place around noon to swab all three of us. Once he’d left, we kicked into crisis management mode, with each of us cancelling as many of the pre-booked trip components as we could. Thankfully, nearly all our guide bookings, lodging and transportation could be rescheduled or cancelled at no cost. Perhaps I contingency-planned better than I thought!
Our test results came back this morning and verified that all three of us do indeed have COVID. Now that we’re certain, we will spend the day figuring out what to do about our trip. We will likely push the trip back a week, but that will require us to reschedule my and Nia’s flights back to the U.S., which were supposed to depart two days after getting back from Greece. I’m hopeful we can still go, especially knowing how much it means to Nia.
As for our health, we all have fairly mild symptoms. We are grateful that we get to spend our quarantine together and that we’ll have immunity in us for our summer travels and move back to the U.S.
Nia has had a super attitude about it. In fact, I’d actually say she’s actually having fun with the situation. She curated her own quarantine room using what’s remaining in the apartment and decided to have a sleepover on her couch cushion bed last night. Her good attitude reminds me that everything will be okay. And so, in conclusion, the moral of today’s story is, don’t cram everything in so tightly that you have no room for mishaps. Be smarter than I was. :)
