I’m pretty sure, at this point, bad news always comes on Fridays. My first COVID scare started on a Friday, I lost my job on a Friday, and now this. This is super ironic given the fact that Friday marks the beginning of the weekend and, for many people, payday. But ever since this pandemic, weekends are looking just like the rest of the week, and payday is nothing but a sweet ol’ memory of employment days (and yes, you guessed it, my unemployment benefits are still “processing”). Looks like the world really has turned on its head.
It was another supposedly peaceful Friday. I was out doing some grocery shopping. By now I already managed to equip myself with a proper facemask and had my glove game on point. As soon as I got back to my car and got ready to go to the next destination in search of hand sanitizer (I know, how naive of me), I got a call from my mom. She said that another family member of mine was in direct contact with someone who just tested positive for COVID-19.
*Again, the “shocked face as the camera zooms in” scene*
So I abandoned my hopeless search and drove straight back home. Now, the whole household had to get into a COVID scare protocol. Gloves and facemasks on in common areas, designated bathrooms, staying at least six feet away from each other at all times, and sanitizing any surface anyone touches outside of their room.
And this was Friday late afternoon, which meant the only possibility to get tested was the next Monday, and at the time, you still had to wait for another three to four days to know the result. So there we were, trying our best to isolate. But when you’re stuck with the same people (who you normally only see briefly in the morning and the evening) ALL DAY without the option of leaving, the house becomes somewhat of a pressure cooker. Arguments start out of nowhere, you get to the point that everyone else’s voice starts to annoy you, and don’t get me started about online grocery shopping. Can someone please explain to me why when I order orange juice (the “made from 100% fresh oranges” kind), and the supermarket doesn’t have it, they somehow think boxed, super artificially flavored, lunchbox-style apple juice is a fitting substitute? I mean come on, people!
So anyway, we were all slowly getting more and more frustrated as time went by. Until one day (lord knows I completely lost any track of what day or time it was by then), just as we were getting ready to kill each other, a screaming voice was heard from one of the rooms.
“I don’t have it!”
Pause
“I’m NEGATIVE!”
We all ran to the living room in excitement, with no masks or gloves on, with teary eyes and giant smiles, and celebrated as if we just won the Superbowl. All the bad blood disappeared. We were hugging and kissing and exchanging ‘I love you’s. We all felt a huge weight lift up from our shoulders. And then, after all the rules of social distancing have been broken, we hear “But let’s not get too comfortable, it still might be a false negative.”
Oy.
To be continued...
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