Corona Chronicles: Day Eleventy Billion

 Y'all. Sometimes I forget how incredibly weird the world is these days. 

This week we went on Monday to the sports medicine doctor for Keaton's back. Tuesday the boys had dentist appointments. Today I took Keaton back to the doctor for an MRI to make sure there's no additional damage to his back. (They're pretty sure it's just the fracture, but are being extra careful.)

Each time we walked into an office, the person at the desk took our temperature. I mean, we leaned across a desk and had someone check our body temperatures before we were allowed to enter. And it was perfectly normal. 

Only it isn't.

Every time we leave the house someone says, "Everyone got a mask?" Because we need to have masks to go anywhere. Don't get me wrong, we want to have masks to go anywhere because it's a small thing that we can do to support public good and keep ourselves and others a tiny bit safer. 

But it's so not normal.

As of this week there is a vaccine for COVID. It's first going to health care and other frontline workers, and then people in nursing homes and over 75, and then people with underlying health conditions, and then other essential workers, and then anyone who is left, I guess. 

There is controversy about the vaccine because it was created and approved so rapidly. There have been vaccines in history that were disasters - making people sicker than they were before and causing birth defects and such. But there are many more vaccines that save millions of lives. I have been a vocal proponent of vaccinations for children, particularly several years ago when misinformation about common, widely used vaccines took over the interwebs. 

But here's the weird part with this vaccine: Famous people and politicians are getting their vaccines live on television. I'm quite sure this is in an effort to convince people it's safe, but it just creeps me out. 

Medical professionals who I know personally and trust have said this vaccine is just as safe as a flu shot, and I have no reason not to believe them because they are smart and have devoted their lives to medicine. Several of these friends have posted on social media about getting their vaccines this week, and I am so happy and comforted that doctors and nurses and hospital custodians and other workers are now able to have something to combat this crazy illness. And I'm incredibly grateful that their families have this vaccine to mitigate some of their fears for their loved ones. 

But watching people get vaccinated on tv is weird.

I'm home from work this week and watching morning tv too much. Every interview with every person includes a version of this question: "When it's your turn to get the vaccine, will you get it?" Today it was an actor and a person who runs an online basketball camp. It feels like they are having these perfectly normal interviews and then finishing up with "Do you eat enough fiber?" or "When was your last physical exam?" 

So. Very. Weird. 

I started writing The Corona Chronicles on March 18th, numbering each day that I deemed Texas to be essentially shut down because of the virus. I stopped on Day 47. Since then, things have gradually opened up a bit more and the number of cases has trended up and down (Brazos County has had 13,571 total cases as of today). We made it through a whole semester of school without having to shut down. The amount of effort that has taken is astronomical - and a huge shout out to school nurses and our custodians for being our frontline workers. 

I personally know people who have been sick, hospitalized, and who have lost loved ones (in some cases multiple loved ones) to COVID. And I know people who tested positive with no symptoms. And I know people who are sure they had it early on but tested negative for antibodies. And every so often I open up the coffee container and take a big whiff to reassure myself that I still have a sense of smell (don't judge). 

I started writing these posts as a sort of primary source for my grandchildren when they study these weird, weird times. My first post about COVID was 280 days ago. 

I think that makes today Day Eleventy Billion. 

Yet here we are. Many of us - the lucky ones like us - really no worse for the wear. We have our jobs and our health and our faith and such. And we're especially thankful for all of those things in a year when we see some around us who do not. 

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve which marks the beginning of the weirdest Christmas ever in the weirdest year ever. I saw the picture below earlier this week and immediately saved it to my phone. I pray that in these next few days we can all stop thinking about all of the weirdness and come faithful, joyful and triumphant to simply rejoice. No matter how weird this world is, we have steadfast hope because of a baby in a manger. That is worth rejoicing about!

Merry Christmas. 

The Mediocre Mommy? Still?

When the boys were little, I frequently referred to myself as The Mediocre Mommy. I felt like (and still feel) that there's all this pressure on moms to be perfect little mommies, and that sounds exhausting. When other moms were throwing perfect themed birthday parties with monogrammed party favors, I was grabbing a cake at HEB on the day-of-the-birthday. 

There was one year we didn't get a plan together for Keaton's birthday (God bless teacher kids whose birthdays are early June), so we told him we had a huge surprise adventure planned for him. We got in the car and headed toward Houston while I googled "fun things for kids" from the passenger seat. Don't judge. It ended up being a pretty fun day. 

But this is not about birthdays. It's about Mediocre Mommies. 

In started with The Adventures of the Mediocre Mommy Then Red Ribbon Week at school. And then the time that I left Keaton alone with his very own pocket knife at the ripe young age of 8.

I am also a serious under-reactor. When I was a principal, the running joke in my office was that I believe Advil solves all problems. If one of my personal children wasn't feeling well or was hurt or something, my response was always "Take some Advil and give it a minute." Headache? Sniffles? Cut your arm off? Advil and time. You'll be fine. 

It mostly works. 

Fast forward to this week. Keaton came home from gym on Monday night complaining that his back was bothering him. He's a gymnast. He's hard on his body. Something is usually bothering him. Also, he's got a little touch of the dramatic. I know because when I was a teenager, I had a little touch of it, too. Hard to believe, right? Just ask my mom. 

Keaton: My back is kind of hurting. 

Me: Take some Advil.

Tuesday came. I got a text during the school day that his back was hurting. 

Me: Well, take it easy, and when you get home take some more Advil.

He went to gym like normal. 

Wednesday. 4:19 p.m. text from Keaton: Do I have to go to gym?

I called him. "You have to get your hours in. So you can go today or tomorrow, your choice."

He chose to go. Good on him. Tough kid. 

See, I want my kids to be tough. I want them to tough it out. Make choices and live with the consequences. Not think that mom is going to save them when they get in a bind. Understand the world doesn't revolve around them. I am 100% committed to NOT participating in snowflake culture. 

I've found this to be harder with teenagers than with little kids. Sometimes teenagers are dumb, and every once in a while it's okay to save them. But my job as a parent is to save them just barely enough. I worry about the mental health of teenagers these days, and I want my kids to know that I think they can do anything on their own if they are willing to put in the work. I also want them to know that I will go full-on-fight-to-the-death-crazy-mom if necessary. I want them to know I'm in their corner, but I also want them to want me to stay there while they handle their own business. 

The point of all this? Keaton's a little dramatic and I'm a purposeful underreactor. 

When I picked him up from his work out on Wednesday, he got in the truck and said, "Mom. Seriously. I think my back is broken."

Broken? Uh, okay. I told him I'd try to get him in to the doctor if it wasn't better in the morning. I may have made a comment to him about the healing powers of an x-ray because of that one time he got an x-ray, confirmed he wasn't seriously injured, and was magically healed. 

This morning the pain wasn't better. But I was busy. I planned to try to leave midday and take him to urgent care, but things got a little crazy at work and it was 5:00 before I knew it. The extra three or four hours didn't make much difference since we were on day three anyway. Finally, at 5:45, we saw the doctor.

They gave him some Advil (see? it's like I'm a doctor), and took him back for an x-ray. When he returned to the room they told him it would be about ten minutes for the results. We waited.

And waited.

And waited. 

It occurred to me that this was not a good sign. I was right.

The kid has a compression fracture in his back. He's worked out twice since it happened. Been to school every day. Taken finals. 

Oops. (I didn't actually say Oops. In my head, I said much more appropriate and inappropriate words.)

Once he got over the initial panic of what this might do to his competition season, he looked me dead in the eye and said, "Let it be known that I WAS RIGHT!  My back IS broken. Ha!" I think he enjoyed that a little too much.

For some reason, my first thought was, The Mediocre Mommy strikes again. 

But now I'm the Mediocre Mother to Tucker (if he really wants to make his point to me, he snaps, "mother"). To Keaton, I'm the Mediocre Momma (he likes to shout "MOMMA" with an emphasis on the "A" when he wants my undivided attention). 

I have teenagers now. It's like I've graduated from Mommy-dom but nothing too much has changed. 

And so we'll visit the ortho, pray our prayers that he heals quickly, and in the end he'll have a great story about how his crazy mom made him tough it out. 

And next time something happens maybe I'll prescribe two Advil.