We're Still Here!
It’s been eight months since you last heard from us, so I decided to check in. So, why the hiatus?
There are a combination of reasons. But mostly, I got so sick of writing about myself! At that point, I’d written about 20 posts, mostly about myself and our family, and I needed a break from thinking and writing about us! Inviting guest bloggers helped, but not enough.
How in the world do people write about their lives? I’ve always said that it takes a dash of narcissism to blog about your life, but I must fall short of the amount needed in order to keep it going for very long!
At about the time I got so sick of myself, it was also crazy busy around here. With Dennis still working in DC, I was in Colorado managing the house and the in-person parenting. Not only did that include driving the kids to school, taekwondo and drum lessons, but also, the boys and I were preparing for our upcoming black belt test and graduation ceremony. The graduation ceremony was happening over Thanksgiving weekend, and both sets of grandparents, plus my sister and nephew, were visiting us so they could attend.
Our black belt test will need to be a post all on its own. I’d been looking forward to earning my first degree black belt for over three years. We timed our training so that I would get it at the same time the boys were earning their second degree belts. Even though we achieved our goals, it didn’t quite turn out the way I envisioned. I’ll go more into that in a later post, but here’s one example of my training going sideways.
Staying Busy
After black belt graduation, Thanksgiving and having a houseful of visitors, I still wasn’t able to jump back into blogging. I just wasn’t in the right mindset, plus a flurry of other activities crept up:
- New taekwondo commitments
- Another India trip for Dennis
- A house guest
- Georgie’s diabetes diagnosis
- A bronze medal at the US Open for Jack
- A little thing called COVID-19!
I won’t go into all of these in this post, but I want to touch on my new commitments at taekwondo.
Still got skillz
While I didn’t want to blog about myself anymore, I missed the writing, creativity and technical aspect of it. So I offered to help our taekwondo school update their website. That quickly turned into re-writing documentation, creating flyers, managing their app, and all sorts of ways to flex skills that have been buried in cobwebs since I became a stay-at-home mom. This new undertaking helped spackle the hole that my lack of blogging had created.
Unbeknownst to any of us, the taekwondo school was about to go from 100% in-person training to 100% online due to COVID-19, so the timing of my new role was perfect. Beginning in March, I worked behind the scenes to help them begin teaching online and provided a way for the members to access all of their training material, videos, and online training schedule. It was a welcome challenge because I’ve learned so much about running a small business, customer relationship management (CRM tools), sales & marketing. I’ve even learned more about event planning, social media strategies, and photo & video editing!
This work kept me so busy (plus, I’m still teaching English to Chinese kids!) that resuming my blog was the last thing on my mind.
"What happened to Your blog?"
A few people have asked what happened to my blog. They’ve all mentioned that the perfect topic is right in front of me: This crazy quarantine! How is our long-distance family handling it? Are we able to quarantine together or do we have to spend it 1600 miles apart? As it turns out, we’ve been very, very lucky. Allow me to explain the events that lead up to this “luck.”
Another Florida Rendezvous
In February, we met Dennis in Orlando, Florida for the Taekwondo US Open in which Jack was competing. The boys and I flew from Colorado, and Dennis drove from DC, fresh off a three-week trip to India. His driving to meet us allowed us to have a car during the trip, even though our only travel was from the hotel to the venue, and to drop me & the boys at the airport to return to Colorado.
We had a wonderful weekend in Florida. We enjoyed lots of family time, got to see many of our taekwondo friends we’ve come to know over the past few years, and even met some new friends! Jack made weight without having to practically kill himself prior to stepping on the scale. Then he fought extremely well and brought home a bronze medal!
Since he turned 17 this year, it’s his last year as a junior competitor. We planned his training and competitions for the entire year and decided that, for the state and local-level competitions, he would fight as both a junior and a senior. This would help him ease him into next year’s senior status where the age range is 18 to 32. (Obviously with the pandemic, those plans are futile.)
We woke up early for Dennis to drive us to the airport to return home, and he could continue on to DC. And that’s when things got weird.
Here's where it gets weird
Before leaving for the airport, I was brushing my teeth when I felt a bristle fall out of my toothbrush. Before I could spit it out, the bristle started to make its way down my throat and felt like it got stuck there. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t reach it or even see it. I could only feel it. This made for a very lovely morning of coughing, gagging and even vomiting.
Drinking lots of liquids didn’t help dislodge the thing. It wouldn’t budge as I swallowed big pieces of bagel in an attempt to provide a conduit for it to make its way through my system. I even found cough drops in my bag that seemed to help keep me from gagging. But when it feels like there’s a pointy piece of plastic stabbing your throat, drops can only do so much.
Coronavirus was all over the news, but still primarily focused overseas. In fact, we only saw one couple wearing masks in the airport. But as I coughed my way through security and to our gate, I noticed people giving me side-eye and watched as they moved a little further away from me.
Once we were seated on our plane, I took half a sleeping pill thinking it was the only thing that might help my cough. It helped some, but the boys told me later that we were getting a lot of disgusted looks.
We made it home, and I woke up the next morning still thinking I could feel the bristle. It may have even been irritation, I wasn’t sure. But I also felt like my cough had started to turn into a cold.
Is it the 'Rona?
Then the NEXT morning, I woke up feeling like I had bronchitis (unfortunately, I’m all-too familiar with its symptoms) or possibly something worse. I felt terrible! I even had a fever and a headache which was unusual for me even when I have bronchitis. After taking the kids to school, I drove straight to urgent care. I explained my bristle story, and how I felt like it was still there. They looked, but based on where I was pointing to my throat, said there would be no way to see it without a scope. I’d have to visit an Ear, Nose & Throat doctor for that. Their diagnosis was that the bristle (if there ever really was one) and all my coughing sparked something that was already brewing causing me to get sick. See eyeroll gif above.
They didn’t seem concerned about Coronavirus once I assured them I hadn’t traveled out of the country and I was still able to breathe. Testing was never mentioned, and at the time, I didn’t think I had it. However, as more details emerge about symptoms and how soon doctors were actually seeing cases, I’m not 100% certain. But what I do know is that no one else around me got sick. That’s really the only thing that makes me think I was Corona-free.
They gave me a prescription for antibiotics, steroids and cough medicine and sent me home to rest. Dennis was already making plans to fly home to take over my duties while I recovered. He didn’t need to immediately rush home because I already had some help.
My good friend, Miranda, had been staying with us since December and she was willing to help out in any way she could. However, I sensed an uneasiness about her every time I coughed. Combined with the fact that the word “Coronavirus” began increasingly dominating the news, and suddenly she was packing her bags!
But then...
The next day, I was standing at the counter making lunch and felt the familiar pain of a small lung collapse. It was small enough that, had I not been sick, I would have simply rested for a few days knowing it would heal itself. But I decided to return to urgent care for a chest x-ray to be safe.
I called to make sure they could get me in, which they were immediately able to do. When I called Dennis to give him this update, it dawned on me that I’d somehow called the other urgent care in town; not the one I was just at yesterday. I explained this to Dennis who convinced me to keep my appointment anyway because he actually prefers the doctor at this location.
Who are we dealing with here?
Once again, I relayed my story of our Florida trip, my toothbrush bristle, and ended with yesterday’s urgent care visit and today’s lung pain. Between the bristle and my showing up at the wrong urgent care, I can’t begin to imagine what kind of lunatic they thought they were dealing with!
The chest x-ray confirmed my suspicion of a small collapse that should heal with rest, and I scheduled a follow-up x-ray for later in the week. By that time, Dennis was home and Miranda was gone. Yep, as soon as she heard I’d be taken care of, she ran back to the safety of her virus-free home like a bat out of Wuhan!
Stuck in Colorado
Not knowing how long I’d need him, Dennis booked a one-way ticket home. He dutifully drove the kids everywhere, cooked meals, kept on top of the house and laundry, all while working from home.
Then, before you could ask “Where can I get toilet paper?” schools went online and parents were homeschooling, store shelves were bare, flights were being cancelled and Dennis was stuck with us in Colorado!
Stay Tuned!
Tune in to next week's post to see how we're handling being under the same roof (with nowhere to go!) after being apart for so long!
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I have a new favorite phrase now, “like a bat out of Wuhan”! Can’t wait for the exciting conclusion! 😊
Yeah! I should trademark it. Get it over to Ozzy. You don’t have to wait long for the “conclusion,” I’m on a two-post roll!