Heaven is a place called… anywhere COVID isn’t.
The weekend before Christmas, I went home to see my family. I went to visit my father, who was “battling a chest cough.” I returned home two days later, only to receive a text that his chest cough was actually COVID.
Simultaneously, reports flew in across the coast regarding the Omicron variant, and breakthrough cases throughout cruise ships currently at sea. Ships cannot dock at the port. This means guests cannot disembark. Local governments felt fear that they would all have COVID and spread it to their citizens! Ships have become an incubus for viral plague.
Over the course of 24 hours, not only was I at risk for COVID, but so was my immediate family. In addition, my ability to get on my end-of-the-year cruise vacation was at risk!
Thankfully, tests came back negative. However, with my combined risk and the combined risk of the “floating petris dish,” Aaron and I decided to cancel our cruise trip. A family member has her wedding scheduled for January. Imagine missing THAT for a separate vacation. Imagine going on that vacation and then getting COVID! Or worse, imagine getting COVID and having to isolate, incubate, and recover in a tiny cruise stateroom. Even worse, imagine getting COVID, having to recover in a cruise stateroom, at the port as the US government refuses to let sick people into their country, forcing me to miss work!
So, sadly, my vacation is no more. I shall not be ending the year on a boat, regrettably. However, we have plans to rebook, possibly for Alaska! We also have that potential trip to the Bahamas in 2022. In addition, my mother has mentioned booking a family trip somewhere tropical for New Years’ 2022!
In the meantime, I decided to keep the vacation time, even if I lost the vacation! I have plans to clean and organize multiple spaces in the house. As well, I might do a beach day, so I can still get some surf and sand! On top of all that, I can start the new year off, January first, on a solid, productive note, rather than a continuing gorge on cruise food. With the right attitude, COVID won’t get the best of me. Everything’s coming up Milhouse!