On Second Thought

I ended 2021 with a bang, proving that what happens in Las Vegas - or more likely the airport there - does not necessarily stay in Las Vegas.

I found out last week that I had Covid, and more importantly, it also had me. We were officially in a relationship, but I can already tell we’re going to break up because frankly, he’s a jerk and knows nothing about romance.

I’m going to spare you the details of my still-inprogress journey through grossness, because I have been on Facebook and I know that about 25 percent of you either have it or live with someone who does and all that information would just be redundant and even more annoying than what you’re already going through.

There’s truly no need to compare notes about whose used tissue sculptures are more impressive or how long you can sleep before someone calls the authorities – we should just commiserate about the more mundane details, like what happens when you are asleep.

What I haven’t yet seen anyone talk about is Covid dreams, but for me, it has turned out to be the most interesting part of the past nine days aside from the season finale of Yellowstone, and a 3 a.m. informercial for a skillet that’s coated in diamonds or something.

By nature, I’m a vivid dreamer and while my dreams would be weird for someone who doesn’t live inside my head, they are mostly run of the mill for me. Until this week, when they got even better.

I’m going to preface this dream story with the true fact that I don’t like the ocean. Looking at it makes me feel insignificant and lonely. Don’t judge me, I love the mountains because they feel like an earthly hug when I look at them.

In a dream I had this week during Tuesday’s nap 3.0, I was in a big house and a curly-haired man I didn’t know showed up wearing red swim trunks and told me he was there to make sure nothing happened to me. He then left and went to the front of the house to guard me.

When I looked out the front window to check on him, I found out my entire front yard was ocean forever, something I was previously unaware of in the dream or awake. But the part closest to my house was clear blue like the Caribbean and actually beautiful.

The closer I looked, I could see that the man had put colorful beach blankets in different parts of the clear blue water, so that no matter where he had to be when he was watching over me, he would be happy and at least comfortable there. That’s what my dream brain assured me, anyway. And I thought to myself, “Wow, he found a way to be happy in a really crappy situation.”

The dream was actually a comfort, and I woke up to a Sonic Coke and a pretzel with cheese sauce that a great friend had left next to my back door (she apparently heard about my front yard being turned into an ocean), and it reminded me how many people have put their beach blankets around me the past several days.

So, thank you.

My sweet husband has cared for me in every single way, including keeping me in food which has been a full time job. My kids, my family and friends have checked on me every day and kept me laughing, which is the best medicine, by the way. And my office really stepped up to make it work through two issues and had my back while I intermittently napped and worked from my home office that I’m also living in. I am forever grateful to everyone for their love and care.

For the record, the jackpot I hit in Vegas was my family. The Covid was a cruel and unasked for bonus. I am vaccinated, and boosted, thank God, or I have no doubt it could have been quite a lot worse. Be safe out there.

I hope you get a glimpse of your own lifeguards at some point. It’s humbling and heart-warming.