[23/365] good and bad

[cosmolinguist]

I had a cute story lined up for today, but then something happened that rattled me. Bad things are a pain though, so I'll include the nice story too.

The update from the family birthday party my parents were going to last weekend is that every single adult who was there now has covid... Except my parents. Or, so they believe. If they have had it, they've been totally asymptomatic (they don't currently have tests to check it out and wouldn't use the tests if they don't have symptoms, gah).

But yeah my cousin had it "but went back to work already" according to my mom. His wife probably had it but refused to get tested. My aunt and uncle, grandparents of the unvaccinated children, have it and they're both around 70 and with serious health issues so that's worrying.

I know a lot of people have had a lot worse but this is the most family I've had get covid (also another cousin I don't see, and her family, apparently have it; her kids brought it home from daycare) and it's the closest my parents have knowingly been to it. I don't see how they managed to escape it really; I assume they had asymptomatic cases but for both of them to end up like that while everyone else has gotten ill seems almost as unlikely and difficult to explain as them having avoided it entirely. My aunt and uncle are vaccinated and boosted like my parents (and around the same times), my cousin and his wife are at least vaccinated, I dunno about boosted.

I was actually shaking as my mom was talking about this, I was so freaked out at their closest call yet, and I was so angry at my wider family for being anti-vaxxers or for being okay with hanging out with them, for prioritizing politeness or "we've always had this birthday party" or "we're all fed up of covid so we'll pretend it's over" or whatever the fuck made them get together last weekend. I'm glad my parents are okay but that okayness feels so fragile right now, and thinking about how fragile my parents, especially my mom, are has made me really upset tonight.

Now for the good story. Sometimes diffrentcolours talks a little in his sleep, not usually intelligibly but sometimes I can hear a word or two. A little fraction of the understandable words are funny but mostly it's just random.

This morning, I woke up because he was telling a story. "When we were with my family, [niece] and [nephew] had just gotten a Nintendo Switch for Christmas, and [niece] was like 'Uncle [family nickname], I'm gonna beat you at Mario Kart, I'm gonna kill you!'..." He even did a little bit of a voice for her.

I knew he wasn't telling me this, because I was there when this story happened! It did happen. He did not let her win, heh.

He started out as easy to understand as an awake person slurring their words. It got a little more blurry as it went on and faded out, but he did finish it with a little chuckle.

The whole thing was so ridiculously adorable.

Best part was, I got up to go to the bathroom then and when I got back to bed he was awake, so I told him what he'd just done and he said "I was dreaming about telling that story!" So I got to say "You were telling that story!"

Comments

[strange_complex]

I'm not surprised you feel shaken by your parents' close brush with Covid. You already said in your previous post about it that you felt powerless to influence their decision about the party, and I imagine that plus the physical distance must be a really scary combination.

I guess at least at this distance from the party you can be pretty confident that they have got away with it somehow, even if you know that's only a hindsight conclusion. I hope they'll maybe think twice next time after what happened this time.

[cosmolinguist]

Yeah how helpless I feel about my parents is definitely going to play a big part in bow intensely I feel about these things. They're basically on the same page as me but they have to do some stuff I don't (like shop for groceries in person) and they choose to do some stuff I don't (they've been eating in restaurants whenever that's been legal where they live). Mostly I'm happy or okay with what they're doing and mostly my family is on board with vaccines and staying home and whatnot, so it makes things like this feel like a bigger deal than if my parents were, or were surrounded by, such dangerous people all along.

[barakta]

Arrrrrgh to the party (entirely predictably) being a super spreader event, but relieved so far your parents seem to be OK (whether asymptomatic or Covid free or not)... Bloody scary though!

The DifferentColours dream story is fabulous, thank you for sharing it!

[cosmolinguist]

I'm glad you liked the little story. :)

As for my parents, yeah this kind of thing feels so much more frustrating than if they got, or get, covid from something like grocery shopping or a medical appointment. Something more necessary. Because this is just so pointless and never should've happened anyway. Or if it did, my parents shouldn't have been there! In my ideal world, they'd have not only not gone but been honest about the reason they didn't go. But I'd have been fine if they'd just made an excuse not to go, I actually hoped for bad weather or something that day so that they couldn't. :)

[silveradept]

Aiiiigh about that family gathering. We realize people want to see family in person, but this certainly seems like the obvious result of all of that happening.

Maybe, hopefully, they recognize they dodged the virus this time and don't stick their head in the lion's mouth again.

The story story sounds really cute to have happen to you and yours, though. That's a bright spot.

[cosmolinguist]

I don't think my parents would have learned anything from this or would do anything differently. :( They live in a rural and therefore bigoted and therefore anti-vax part of the U.S. (not that urban parts aren't bigoted, but it plays out differently), so my mom sees other family friends who won't get vaccinated/won't vaccinate their poor young children, she knows there are unvaccinated people at the church she goes to every week and she's the only one who wears a mask there... None of this is going to change.

[silveradept]

That sounds familiar, yes, based on how I would imagine my own rural upbringing reacting to things. I'm sorry that you have people who seem determined to catch it any which way they possibly can.

[sfred]

<3

[cosmolinguist]

<3

[tarasacon]

*hugs*

[cosmolinguist]

<3

[otter]

That is a funny little story. I talk in my sleep sometimes, too.

I'm with you on being worried and upset about your parents and other family. Falcon got covid at work - his manager pretended showed up sick to work, but pretended it was nothing. The whole shop got sick. Similar "freedom at all costs" attitude.

[jesse_the_k]

That's a significant failure of leadership from his manager!

[cosmolinguist]

Yeah, so common though from what I've heard from friends. It's horrible. :(

[cosmolinguist]

How infuriating from the manager! And how self-defeating too, it can't be good for them if all their people get sick at practically the same time.

It's hard when these things happen far away, even if you know you couldn't do much if you were there.

[jesse_the_k]

I hope your parents luck holds.

[cosmolinguist]

Me too. My mom has a raft of underlying conditions, and my dad has lost so much weight in the last year (intentionally, but like a drastic amount of weight; it's disarming to see him on Skype calls now, it doesn't look healthy :( ).

[forests_of_fire]

I would be really, really scared if my parents were in that situation, too! It was horribly irresponsible for your family to throw a party like that. I'd say I hope your parents start standing up for their health, but I know that your parents are a lot like my mom, so I'll just say that I hope that their luck continues to hold.