Rowan Edmonds
I still vividly remember the first time I ever heard of COVID-19. I was on vacation with my mom, dad, and sister, and the events that followed were not very fun.
Extended spring break to no school, to mandatory quarantine, turning 19 during that mandatory quarantine, to now, years later, still being affected by it. I had almost prided myself on not getting COVID-19, seeing as most of my friends and family got it, but my little family of four never did.
Well, the universe has a wicked, twisted sense of humor, that’s for sure. My boyfriend and I were supposed to go to Charleston, S.C., for his grandfather’s 88th birthday, and low and behold, he had a cough. No biggie, but we wanted to ensure it wasn’t COVID-19 before we went.
Unfortunately, it was, and I was sitting right next to him when he got his results. Bye, bye Charleston. I was still testing negative at the time, so I left his place, hoping I wouldn’t test positive (spoiler: I did), and because my parents are a bit older, I didn’t want to expose them, so my dad sent me to his office.
Don’t get me wrong, my dad’s office is pretty nice and could be turned into an apartment one day if he decided he didn’t want to work anymore, but it was hard. Sleeping on an air mattress day after day and being completely isolated in an unfamiliar place was not easy. Luckily, his office had a bathroom with a shower, a fully functioning kitchen, and a smaller side room for me to set up my air mattress. It wasn’t the Four Seasons, but it kept my family safe until I was good to come home.
Day one was totally fine. I went on a walk, made myself some good food, and read an entire book. The symptoms started to kick in on day two with just some mild congestion. My poor boyfriend was going through the wringer at this point with a full-blown fever and body aches. I was hoping I wouldn’t get to that point because I was vaccinated. The universe had to prove me wrong on day three and send me into full-scale body chills. That day, I sat on the couch and called my mom every five minutes.
I was dying, and the world was going to end. Is this really how my life was going to end? At the ripe age of 21? I had so much more I wanted to do with my life, and it’s just over like that?
On day four, the body chills were gone, and I called my mom to apologize for being so dramatic, stressing to her, no, Mom, I’m not going to die. I’m just a big baby when I’m sick.
Day five is when I broke my number one most significant rule that I swore to myself I would never break ever: I started watching Grey’s Anatomy, and I didn’t hate it.
The boredom had officially settled in, and I felt like I was going crazy. My boyfriend wasn’t much better, but at least he was at home in a familiar space. At this point, I was doing better physically, but mentally? Not so much. I had gotten tested again, and it returned positive, so I had a few more days of being stuck here. By the end of the week, I was on Season 2 of Grey’s Anatomy, had read two books, started a third, and played different video games with my friends, but I could feel my mental health slipping.
My parents were my biggest help during this time. They were constantly checking up on me, bringing me food and eating outside, socially distanced, of course, and they even put a chair in the back of my dad’s truck and drove me around so I could just get away for a little while.
After sleeping on the air mattress for a week, I hit my breaking point. I wanted to go home more than anything. I hated being in an unfamiliar place and wanted nothing more than to just sleep in my bed, see my dogs, and just not be alone.
After seven nights and eight days, I finally came home. I’m still not sure if I’m positive or not, but after seeing my yellow lab, Butter, wiggle around and jump with happiness, when I walked in the door, everything hit me, and I just started crying. I was so tired of being stuck in that place and relieved to be home. I can’t leave my room, awaiting test results, but I’m happier here than back at Dad’s office.
My boyfriend and I have another trip planned for the second week of August, so thankfully, we’re getting our vacation time.
But I learned COVID-19 is still very much real – I’d give my experience with it a solid 4/10 – and Grey’s Anatomy isn’t as bad as I thought.
Rowan Edmonds is a summer intern at The Northeast Georgian and a member of the editorial staff of The Roar at Piedmont University.