Well it’s been a week for the books hence my delayed weekend post. Sorry about that. Home stuff got on top of me for a bit there.
It turns out my 17 yo daughter has Covid so we have had to shut ourselves off from the world in certain ways. Lucky for me we only found out Thursday night because I did a MAMMOTH hike on Thursday that I have been drooling over for the longest time! - hence the recovery walk on Saturday morning.
So I know there are a couple different perspectives when it comes to isolation and just for some back story: my daughter was with her best friend a week ago on Saturday. Came home Sunday and all was peachy (that was the day I did the hike in the pouring rain and sloshed over to collect her on the way home).
Monday her headache began (this is not abnormal for her because she has low blood pressure so sometimes gets headaches when she needs fluids or salt)
Tuesday came the runny nose and scratchy throat which remained until Thursday when I took on the MEGA MOUNTAIN hike. I get home and my daughter proceeds to tell me that her bestie had the same symptoms and tested positive for Covid.
I was actually so exhausted from the 20km hike that I just got annoyed. Really?? Why now?? We’ve made it through a year and a half of pandemic, but I guess our turn was coming and it was inevitable.
Anyway, called the doc, got referred for a PCR test (I have my theories about these too) and we rocked up 9.30am to an empty lab on Friday morning. Seems we are on the falling side of the numbers which is great news for South Africa.
It took a whole 30 seconds to get the swob done and off we went.
Taylor was told to isolate in her room - hello? She’s a teenager. She is permanently in her room. No problem there. And we were told to stay clear of her. Not too hard except that we all work from home and do school from home, so we are ALL ALWAYS HOME.
So no change then except that Taylor won’t be packing the dishwasher.
By Saturday we had all the vitamins and the family started to get wind of our unfolding drama. It’s interesting, how different sides of the family have responded. My folks are super pro vaccine, extreme isolation, more on the control freak end of the spectrum, while my in-laws are anti vax, and have basically said to take all the vitamin we can get our hands on.
I fall in the middle I guess, some-what hesitant, but not opposed to meds, but also very pro living a healthy life that builds you up in the best was to fight off these bugs. Healthy eating, daily exercise and healthy social interaction that builds the soul.
By lunchtime I needed a break from all the WhatsApp advice flooding in so G and I headed to Scarborough in search of a wide open beach with as few people as possible (yes we are still responsible) but he needed a surf and I needed a walk to loosen up my aching legs.
It turned out to be a stunning and perfect 27 Degree Celsius day with almost no breeze at all. So G surfed and I walked and all was right with the world for a couple hours.
The beach was looking pretty perfect - you can see how isolated this tiny village is. Scarborough has a couple coffee and breakfast spots and 1 surf shop and an estate agents office. But the rest is holiday homes and locals that live here to get away from the fray of the city.
Waves crashed, my feet crunched painfully on some shells and I found another washed up log from that ship that lost its load about 30 years ago. There’s one on our local beach in Kommetjie too, and a few others dotted around the peninsula too big and remote to salvage.
We’re pretty spoilt to live where we live and get to experience this every day if we want to. I’m one to always take advantage of all these beautiful outdoor spaces and love my life right now. But we just need to get through the week in one piece.
Is it strange that I don’t think when I’m walking? It kind of clears all the nonsense from my head and I only focus on what’s around me and putting one foot in front of the other. That was just what I needed.
Anyway, now it’s Monday and Taylor’s slightly worse for wear but she’s a trooper. We got a whole list of meds from the doc that should sort her out in the next three days and then the isolation can end by the end of Friday. FREEDOM!!!!! (As long as the rest of us don’t get any symptoms by then of course, but we’ve already been in the same house for 9 days and the rest of us are all peachy)
So I’m going to keep on doing my daily Beach walks alone for the week. It’s hard for a sanguine social butterfly to be alone so I may just fall back on some baking (watch this space).
Appreciate the space to empty my brain. I know you’ll “get it” and we appreciate your love and encouragement. We need it at the moment.
Now to find the next empty beach…
Ps. Did I tell you that I had just painted my toenails and forgot and ended up going home with sand encrusted nail polish? Stunning baby stunning. Starting a new trend 🙄
