First of all, it was strange how empty Hennepin Ave was. In years past, even on Christmas morning, there would have been some traffic. Due to the stewardship of our wise (that's sarcasm) political leadership, both Uptown and Downtown are now ghost towns, the only living creatures wandering their alleyways are the criminals hoping for prey to wander into their sphere . Like Miranda, they meant it for the best.
The church was 3/4 full: about the same as a normal pre-pandemic Sunday. The Mass was magnificent! The pageantry was colorful and fun, the music was over the top with trumpets, strings, organ, piano and a choir. All the songs were classic Christmas carols, so everyone knew all the words to all the verses. There were creches set up all along the side aisles, from all over the world, made from different materials with a dozen different takes on the same scene. I loved them!
The plan was to head to Katie's house in the early afternoon. She sent out a text asking people not to come before 3, as BoopityBoop were in no hurry to stop playing with their Christmas toys and get dressed. Fair enough.
Jay put the huge pan of chicken wings he was bringing along in the oven in the morning. Long and low, done to the edge of crispy, it may have been his best effort to date. I got my gumbo going the moment we came home from church.
Then I noticed that there were a lot of texts from family members on my phone.
A little background: Everyone on my side of the family either had Covid in 2020, got vaccinated as soon as possible, or both. Thanks to G. Punkin and John G. we never stopped gathering in toto: isolation hasn't been an option from the very beginning of the pandemic hysteria. But like any large group of people, my family has its hysterics who can't set aside their fear no matter what the science says. So Katie asked them to all test negative before coming to the party. I called her. She said she had a couple of rapid tests she wanted us to take when we arrived and "Don't be scared, Boop will hold hour hand while we do it."
"If Boop will be holding my hand, who exactly are we trying to protect?" I asked.
"Good question." was all the answer I got.
After that call, Jay and I felt very Grinchy. I'm talking, my heart shrank at least 3 sizes for about a half an hour.
A little more background: Back in March of 2020, Jay had been in Vegas for basketball. The pandemic hit our shores right at the start of March Madness. Jay flew home when they closed the buffets. He knew people were taking this seriously when that happened. Sure enough, two days after he returned, he had a fever. His doctor prescribed a z-pac, deciding to treat it like pneumonia. His fever was gone by midweek. I took care of him. One week after his return, I left him to fend for himself and moved in with my Dad, a wheelchair bound quadriplegic whose primary care giver (my mom) had been in the hospital for five days with a low grade fever (and myelodysplastic syndrome, which had not yet been diagnosed), leaving my siblings to step up and take care of Dad. By Saturday, when Mom finally tested positive for Covid and Jay's fever had been gone for days, I was the only member of the family left who didn't have A) a job they couldn't abandon B) a house full of little kids who needed them or C) a fever. So I moved in with Dad. I spent the next two weeks in quarantine with Dad, monitoring both of us for symptoms and in daily contact with the State Dept. Of Health. Neither Dad nor I could be tested for Covid, despite having been in close contact with Mom immediately before her symptoms presented because there weren't enough tests. Back at the beginning of this, you could only get tested if you were on the edge of death. So, neither my Dad, Jay nor I ever tested positive for Covid. Logic told me that if this thing were anywhere near as contagious as we'd been told (and I do believe it is) then we had to have contracted it. But neither Dad nor I ever had a single symptom. So, two months later, we all went to lab connected to the hospital that treated mom and had blood drawn and tested for the Covid antibodies. Voila! Lab results showed that YES, Dad, Jay and I had all had the virus. A week later, Jay and I got an email from the State Dept. of Health, asking us to donate plasma to the nationwide quest for a vaccine, as they needed antibodies to work with. I guess we should be thankful they asked, rather than just sending a black SUV to pick us up and take us to the exsanguination station.
All this is a very long, detailed way of me saying WHY the HELL would anyone trust a drug store rapid test over the blood based, lab tested results I got back in 6/20????
so yeah; Grinch.
I was only half joking when I arrived at my daughter's house and told her to test me quickly: I wasn't unloading the gumbo or chicken wings if she kicked me out after I tested positive.
I tested negative.
Of course I tested negative. I had the gorram virus 20 months ago!!!! and I had the big one, not one of the lame ass variations that it spawned and it didn't even make me sick.
I am not a fan of this kind of ego drama and that's really what this is. Don't get me wrong, I know some people have died because of this virus. It is one of the lies of the "Don't Question the Experts! Big Gov Knows Best" media that those of us who refuse to cower in the face of this virus don't believe it's real. We don't cower because we've already danced with this devil and it ain't such a big deal.
Yes, some have died because of it. A good friend of ours died from it in the summer of '20. And another friend died of influenza 12 years ago but that friend didn't have to spend his last days alone and isolated from his family. Some people have died from every virus, including strep throat which used to lead to Scarlet fever. But the hysterical over reaction to Covid, which kills less than 1 in 1000 of those infected and those mostly from the already sick and dying, is ridiculous and far more dangerous than the virus*. The claim that 800,000 Americans have died from Covid is an accounting trick. If we started counting how many Americans have died with a cold, I believe the numbers would be similar.
So, all these thoughts intruded on my Christmas for about a half an hour, which is far more time than I wanted to give them.
But you know what? I own my temper; it doesn't own me. I shook it off. The Drama Llama was in my heart all along and I had the power to vanquish it, so I did.
The party was a blast! The food, the company, the music, the karaoke, all of it was wonderful!
Josie didn't come but chose to stay with her not-at-all-sick-but-tested-positive Beau, Nick. I told her I'd save her some gumbo...but I just ate the last bowl for lunch. Hey, it's fish based and has to be eaten within three days. I'll make her more.
Merry Christmas!!
*oh, I've got a conspiracy theory about it, believe me. I'll get to that at another time.