Where have I been?
A friend sent me a tik tok of someone wearing a hoodie backwards and carrying their cat in the hood. I tried it with Avery and she loved it so much that she stayed there for a good 30 minutes purring and relaxing.
It’s 2022 and where have I been? Honestly, I’ve been stressed to the max. The last two years have been difficult, but this year seems to have started with a bang.
Omicron came around full force in Ontario and we went into yet another lockdown. New provincial regulations stated the following:
no more PCR tests to the public (wtf?)
schools and daycares only need to notify parents of positive cases if 30% or more students in a class test positive for Covid (again, wtf?)
only 5 days of quarantine needed for anyone who’s fully vaccinated and children under 11 (we’re fully vaxxed and our son is almost 2, but still … wtf?)
indoor dining is closed, but guess what? you can eat outside in a snowstorm (I’m being sarcastic, but outdoor dining was and is still permitted)
Prior to the 30% rule, our daycare notified us of 2 positive cases in a different class. We held our breath as it seemed like it was just a matter of time before we heard about a positive case in our son’s class. Then the 30% rule happened and we heard nothing. Our daycare sends us photo updates throughout the day so we can see what our son is up to. Over the weeks we noticed certain little friends were missing for days at a time, sometimes upwards of a week, then one of his teachers was gone for a week. 30% of our son’s class is 4 students/teachers. We only ever noticed maybe 3 people missing at any given time.
Fast foward to mid January when our son came home with a bit of a runny nose and seemed off, overall. The next day, he was vomiting non-stop for hours. We ended up in the ER, still with no PCR test allowed and only a “yep, it’s probably Covid,” from the doctor. We left and went home. With public health protocols being so different from 2 years ago when both my son and I tested positive and received daily phone calls to ensure we were quarantining and feeling okay enough, we got no calls this time. Luckily, our family doctor is amazing and she and her team of nurses called us daily to check in and see how we were feeling.
We’ll be coming out of quarantine this Sunday (we chose to quarantine for the full 10 days, rather than 5), just in time for our son’s second birthday. I’m happy to be rid of the joint pain, headaches, and constant nausea. We have no confirmation that it was Covid, but the symptoms seem to match so we’re guessing we had it.
So yay, we’re healthy again and things seem to be going back to normal right? Mmmm, not exactly. Recently, I found a lump on one of our cats’ bellies, took her to the vet, and learned she has cancer. To say I’m devastated is an understatement. If you’re friends with me on Facebook, you’ll know we’ve gotten news that so far it seems that the cancer is operable. So in March, our baby girl, the matriarch of our little family, will be going to see an oncologist where they’ll determine if the cancer has spread and hopefully operate. Please send out some positive vibes, if you have any left.
Aside from that stressful and crappy start to the new year, I’ve taken up flash fiction. Writing has been difficult for me lately, especially writing something happy. I was inspired by my friend Finnian Burnett, an incredibly talented flash fiction writer (if you haven’t read their flash fiction, you definitely should!), so I Googled flash fiction classes and found one that started at the beginning of this month. Though I’m really missing having an actual person teach the classes, I am definitely finding some inspiration to write. I’ve written a few flash pieces that I’m really proud of, one of which I actually submitted for publication.
While 2022 hasn’t started out the way we had hoped, my wife and I are trying our best to remain positive that the rest of the year will be better. We’re keeping our fingers and toes crossed that Avery will make it through surgery and go back to living a normal and healthy life and that we remain healthy for the rest of the year.
