Truth and Tantrums posted: " Life around here has been......a lot. My husband and oldest daughter got COVID despite all of our best efforts to keep that nonsense from landing on our doorstep. That meant The Freeloader, the only unvaccinated person in our house, was exposed and pot"
Life around here has been......a lot. My husband and oldest daughter got COVID despite all of our best efforts to keep that nonsense from landing on our doorstep. That meant The Freeloader, the only unvaccinated person in our house, was exposed and potentially at risk for getting a severe case. Luckily she escaped TWO separate exposures just fine. It did add some stress for me since I was the only non-isolated adult in the household for 10 days and I was having to take care of the people in isolation as well as The Freeloader and that was taxing. I was often just tired and lonely by the end of the day, and there was a lot of anger to work through. Anger that we're here 19 months after the start of all of this still battling a preventable pandemic illness because fuckwads won't go get vaccinated. Anger that I had to run life and my household and parent alone for 10 days because there wasn't a vaccine for my kid yet. Anger that my family has given up SO MUCH to do the right thing and protect ourselves and others, and it didn't matter at all. So all of that was a lot, and we all made it through unscathed and really no worse for wear. The Freeloader got her first vaccine dose. I got a booster. We are on our way to being a fully vaccinated household and I am looking forward to it, because even though two people got breakthrough cases, they were mild and manageable and if we hadn't had an unvaccinated kid in the house it would basically have been like two people battling really annoying colds and life wouldn't have gotten so crazy.
I basically spent 10 days like this.
During all of that, we had The Freeloader's first real parent teacher conference and it was a weird moment of positivity that I needed more than I realized. We heard all about what a good student she is, how gently she leads her peers to do the right things, how empathetic she is toward kids who share that they're having a bad day or a hard morning and how she's sure to go check in with those kids later to make sure they're doing ok. We also heard about how she's great at regulating her own feelings when she's overwhelmed and stepping away to give herself some space before coming back to the group. It was like every battle or lesson we've had for six years about her temper and listening to how others feel and showing kindness was being spoken back to me by her teacher and it was so gratifying to hear she was using all of those tools and strategies even when we aren't around. After a rather oppressive cloud of dark feelings and doubts was dropped over me a couple of weeks before, it was really nice to hear about how all of my efforts and guidance were showing up in how the Freeloader behaved with her peers and her teacher. Almost as if I'm not the giant failure some might paint me to be.
That said, we're also starting The Freeloader in counseling this week because dad getting COVID despite being vaccinated was a bit too much for her to take. Previously if it happened, like when my mom got it after being vaccinated, she could write it off as some outside thing that changed the situation. Grandma had cancer, maybe her vaccine wasn't working as well after her radiation. Some people have been going out without masks or hanging out with unvaccinated people so if they get it, they weren't doing the things they should have been doing. But dad was doing all the things he was supposed to do, dad wasn't seeing friends or going to restaurants, all he was doing was going to work every day. He still got COVID. Her tiny brain broke over that. I think it fully wrecked her sense of safety and security, and she's gone a bit overboard with the big feelings. There was one day she didn't want me to get the mail because it wasn't safe. So we decided to get her someone else to talk to so that maybe they can help her get through those feelings and find a place where she feels a little safer doing normal every day stuff. At least that's what we're hoping. We will see how well she does talking to someone about it who isn't one of us.
All of it feels like a lot to have happened in just a couple of weeks, though. I'm glad things are back to something more normal at the moment.
WordPress.com
No comments:
Post a Comment