The Second

Aug 18

Friday night and everyone in the family is recovering from Covid and/or having Covid-like symptoms. Somehow only some of us have tested positive. Seems unlikely that only some of us have Covid since our home isn't particularly spacious and we all kind of live on top of each other— when all of us are home most of us are in the same room— but unlike a wide swath of people on soc-med, I’m not an epidemiologist. I don’t mind the uncertainty but it’d be nice to know for certain who among us has the extra bit of immunity for the next few months.

So, this first week back to school was kind of a bust. Only one of my kids went and that was for just the day. But we got to the middle school! We did it. It feels like a milestone, even if it was more of a soft opening than the real thing. Two days out sick and now a weekend. Monday will feel like a bit of a reset but that’s okay. I say things like “that’s okay” when there’s really no solution but to accept it, roll with it, and keep moving forward:

I don’t know if I have Covid for sure, but that’s okay.

My kid spilled their entire dinner on the floor, but that’s okay.

The whole world seems to be going to be woefully unprepared for the ravages Climate Change is only just beginning to wreak upon it, but that’s okay.

It really covers a wide variety of topçics. And so much classier than its immature little brother, “shit happens.” “It’s okay” is the middle-aged answer to the countless insults life hands you on a regular basis. I had to bring in our dog to the vet because she was having trouble peeing (I’ll spare myself the effort of going into detail and spare you the discomfort in reading it). During our visit I reluctantly agreed to let the vet do really expensive tests on our dog. Tests that, in hindsight, she probably didn’t need. Or at the very least we could have waited until the first tests didn’t turn up anything. But that’s okay. What’s $500 and the uneasy feeling you might have been treated unfairly (ie scammed) between you and your dog’s doctor?

I don’t have any big plans for the weekend, what with the pestilence and whatnot. But…. I’m already frustrated by both of our kids' schools and will use the next few days to steel myself for another year of poor communication. I’m learning that the problem isn’t particular to the elementary school, which makes me feel better about the school, but much less confident about the district, which I already found to be lacking in certain ways over the course of the pandemic. But that’s another story.

And honestly, I don’t feel like getting into full-on complain mode, so I’ll just sketch out the details as briefly as I can and you can decide for yourself if it’s annoying.

The middle school had an orientation at 6 pm on Monday. They sent out a reminder text. Great! It was at 5:42 pm.

The elementary school sent out an email reminding us that the school is enforcing the school uniform policy this year. The last few years have been very lax, and the vibe had been that that ship had sailed, with all of the uniforms on it, the white shirts and navy blue bottoms sewn together to make masts. So I was surprised to learn that not only are the uniforms back but that the students won’t be allowed to attend class without them. You can guess how I felt receiving that email the night before school began, giving me 12 hours to somehow redo back-to-school shopping. But it’s okay.

It’s all okay.