So much has happened since the beginning of the school year. All of us staff entered the school in sheer panic and fear, not knowing what to expect and what would happen. But I am so glad I chose the school to work at that I did. Rigid, regimented, detail-oriented, clean up the kazoo, are all terms that would describe my daily life for the last 3 months. Protocols to no end. I knew that if this virus got past the defenses the school set up there was no stopping it, as there was no safer school anywhere.
Well, last Sunday night, I got a text message from my school principal saying he wanted to meet on zoom. Minor events of life started flashing before my eyes because this is REALLY out of the ordinary, nothing good about this request. I go on and have it confirmed that COVID exposure has happened. I logged off and started shaking. Every bad scenario of what I thought would ever happen started going through my mind. The Principal said to be at the school at 8am for details that Interior Health would provide him during the night so he could pass along what he was learning.
It was bad. My class. Everyone was told to isolate for two weeks. The principal told me to call 811 to talk to the Covid nurse, which I immediately did. She said you have to go home and isolate and not go out NOW. I felt like a stiff tin man as I walked to my truck, but got in, and got home, and started to think about how I would make this happen.
I have been letting an elderly man live in my place to avoid COVID himself, which means I opted to stay in my 30ft travel trailer on an RV pad beside my parents' place. But I was pretty prepared. For the last few months every time I went shopping I bought a little extra and threw it in the chest freezer "just in case" I was ever in a lockdown situation due to COVID. I had full tanks of propane, a full tank of water, and TYPE O blood. I looked at the last one as a bonus because several times on the news outlets recently reported that people with O type blood did better during the sickness time. So upon arriving home I started prepping my place with the mindset that if I did get sick it all had to be organized in a certain manner so I could take care of myself, and take care of Pearl. By that first evening, I was prepared to be sick.
Woke up the next day, and was still standing. So with nowhere to go and nothing planned to do, I started rummaging through a closet for art supplies that hadn't been used in many years. Then I phoned my parents and asked them to dig through their basement for a mini step machine I had bought and forgot about also several years prior. They dug it out, crept up to my door, and left it. Small and compact I decided it would have to be my exercise plan along with kitchen dancing for the next two weeks.
And so it began, my covid quarantine. Time doing things I love but had no time for. Time exercising, in a way I had never exercised like before - in a small space. Writing, art, learning from incredible people on YOUTUBE. I think I will cherish this time after it is finished. ...as long as I don't get sick.
