My Birthday Week: A Comedy

Monday was my first day back to work. With the majority of the campus still working remotely I had to find things for myself to do. I feared this would me the ultimate Monday. Worst than returning for the Christmas holiday. It actually wasn’t so bad. I managed to find ways out of the office. I because the “out & about” guy. I purchased from vendors around town I also help with people picking up packages. It was nice to see some friendly office coordinators I’ve been missing. That’s something I’ve been missing in the 70 so days. Heck, I even got some cookies out of the day. It was t as bad as I feared.

Bomb came though. 5 people Bekah works around were tested positive for COVID. People have had been in direct physical contact with. Which means I’ve also been exposed over the last 4 days from my wife. Dilemma. I knew I needed to tell the guys at work. Guess what, I was sent to be back on isolation after returning for 1 day. Frustrated and concerned, I made a drink.

I was told be risk management to make a list of everyone I was in direct contact with & to stay home until I test negative & Bekah test negative. Great. I had nightmares about having a swab shoves up my nose. I got myself into a mess. I couldn’t in good conscience not report that info to work. I’d feel horrible if someone caught it because of me. I felt guilty enough having just been around people even though I didn’t know I had been exposed.

Odd thing though. None were showing symptoms. Asymptomatic? Possibly. The 3 staff were sent home and 2 residents to the hospital for test and evaluations. Guess what, the test the hospital gave showed negative. Now the staff wanted retesting. The original test were done by the National Guard. Well, the 3 staff also show negative. what the f***! So I guess I’m good to go?

After 2 days off work due to exposure concerns Thursday I was able to go back to the office because everyone was declared infection free. The rumor mill went mad those 2 days. It seem people believe Bekah tested positive so that’s why I was to stay home. I sure did walk into the office fake hacking up a lung. All the no social distancing goons suddenly didn’t want within 10 feet of me. Probably contributed to the lack of visits. I had fun with it.

Happy birthday to me! This was only the second time in all these years I’ve worked on my birthday since evening on campus. Last year it was worth it. Campus family made me feel special. This year, everyone is gone. The people I work directly with, with the exception of… dang. I can’t think of what her made up name is. Anyway, the exception of her, I work with all guys and they don’t care or pay attention to these things. She is too knew to know when my birthday is and besides, I’ve been gone for 3 months. I wasn’t expecting anything great.

Guess what? I had a good birthday. Bekah got me a weather station!!! I’m rather pumped up to toy with it tomorrow. I’ve wanted one for a while but never felt felt I could justify the expense, so this is exciting and a pretty big surprise. She always does an excellent job surprising me. I do love her so. My campus folks sent me emails. My boss actually knew this year because we are Facebook pals after the COVID scare. Way to keep in touch. Jamie once again made me a delicious cake, bless her. Miss E even stopped by to say “happy birthday”! Considering the circumstances, I was happy to get what I got. Much more than I expected. These are not the best birthday circumstances.

I made it the way to 5 and I was ready for my wife to make it home. No real plans made other than to enjoy each other company and order in. Order in. Dinner was on her. After a delicious meal we had a few drinks and retired to the patio. Then we started FaceTiming family who wanted to drink with me. Ouch.

Big surprise was still coming. A glowing birthday parade that I was not at all expecting. If I’d still been off work I would have seen it coming during the day but since I was safe at work I thought I was in the clear. Nope. My campus family came through. I must say it reduced me to the state of mind of a little boy. I can’t imagine the look on my face. Bekah also thought it was great. Added bonus, I had glowing things to play with all night. Haha. Yes, I’m a dork. It was a nice cherry on top of a nice day.

I’m calling myself out right here and I really don’t give 2 s***’s.

After all that, Bekah and the family on FaceTime got me loaded on vodka. Of all drinks. The bottle was freshly opened and weeping the following morning.