Last night was our first time back at a Knighthawks game in almost two years. I think the last time we went was February 29, 2020. That night we were in a suite with Craig's parents for military night and saw a crazy win after the other team made a frantic last-few-minutes comeback. We weren't able to go to the first couple home games this year, so last night was our first chance--and again, we were in a suite with Craig's parents for military night, and the Knighthawks survived another crazy ending to win.
It was strange being back in the arena after that long, because I'm pretty sure I've never been away for that long over the last 22 years, and the arena I came back to was a little different than the one I left. Over the past couple years, they remodeled the rest rooms, added a giant sit-down eating area adjacent to a concession stand, built the Knighthawks their own locker room, and completely renovated the offices. It was a bit surreal seeing those changes, not to mention a bunch of little things like plexiglass dividers and hands-free ticket scanners. But it was good to be back.
The first person we saw was an usher/elevator operator that's been there forever, and when he realized who I was (despite the mask) and looked at my kids (both of whom he remembers me bringing through there as babies), he was shocked! The same thing happened when we got up to the suite and I was standing in the suite opening with Jacob near me and the building workers in the next door production booth saw me and waved. The one pointed to Jacob and motioned like, "What happened?!" Yeah, tell me about it. I question daily how my first baby is now taller than me. After settling in with Craig's parents, getting some food, and watching part of the game, I ventured out into the arena to catch up with some people.
I stopped at the booster club table and said hi to the couple who runs it (whose engagement I helped with when I worked there). Then I saw another member on my way back upstairs. I stopped in the booth and said hi to the building workers, the music guy, and the PA announcer, whose voice I was shocked to hear in the arena since he hasn't done Knighthawks games in years. I hadn't seen him in person since long before the pandemic, so it was wonderful to catch up. Then I realized Craig's boss' wife and kids were in the suite next to us, so I said hi to her and then eventually him, too. After the game I saw a few of the coaching and management staff that I know from way back. I truly loved seeing everyone. It was one of those nights where you realize you almost forgot how nice it is to connect with people. And I guess I was feeling comfortable, or at the very least nervous that people wouldn't recognize me because my hair is at least six inches longer than it was two years ago, because I uncharacteristically pulled down my mask to talk to people. Based on what I knew (essentially that everyone was there despite the vaccine mandate only being dropped a couple days ago, meaning they likely met that criteria anyway), I figured everyone was vaccinated and cases locally are down significantly--probably only a few thousand active cases in the county currently--so what were the odds?
Well, as it turns out, much better than anticipated. This morning after church I got a message from the wife of the booster club couple. Her husband tested positive this morning. He seemed fine last night, and I'm guessing he wouldn't have been there if he had any inkling, but apparently he woke up this morning feeling like garbage. So, clearly I now feel like a complete idiot for not replacing my mask for those conversations once I was identified. I mean, I only talked to him for about five minutes and we were in a nice, wide open area. The production booth was a little tighter, but I only talked to four people and others in there were masked, so the odds seemed small and I was just so happy to see people that I guess I got a little ahead of myself. It kills me because we've tried to be so careful. Some people can take risk after risk and be fine, and yet I take one and BOOM--exposed.
I've spent the rest of the day today masked and now I'm on symptom watch. I've had a dull headache for most of the day, which is concerningly reminiscent of my post-vaccine symptoms, but it could be psychosomatic and I also don't drink water as well on weekends unless I work out, and after a lot of salty snacks last night, it wouldn't surprise me if it was a dehydration headache because I get those periodically on Sundays since Saturday is usually my workout day. Or, if I'm lucky, maybe my body is successfully fighting off a very small viral load like it learned to do via the vaccine and the headache is the result. I can hope, right? I'll do a rapid test tomorrow and hopefully schedule a PCR the day after if needed.
On one hand, the timing for this is terrible. Valentine's Day (with a fancy dinner I'm making) is tomorrow, and Carter's birthday and his long-awaited choral concert are Tuesday. His party is supposed to be next weekend, which I could probably still do based on current isolation rules but likely wouldn't risk. I have half a dozen Zoom meetings this week, and don't want to reschedule them with break next week, so being under the weather wouldn't be ideal. On the other hand, Craig has an off-weekend coming up, Jacob is done with basketball, I'm still fully remote for work, and school break is next week, so a lot of that could definitely be worse. Regardless, I'll keep masking and sleep in the basement for now.
On my way to get Super Bowl food from our favorite gluten-free place tonight (about an hour round-trip--we figured it was safer for me to go, masked, than for us to go together or for a very tired Craig to make the drive), I prayed about it and basically asked God to work it out. Only He knows if this variant is easier than what's to come, or if holding out longer means it will continue to evolve to be less impactful or more treatment options will be available. Only He knows if this week's timing is better than another week's timing. So I asked for the smoothest, least disruptive and least dangerous path, and I guess we'll see.
Even though the odds are that it would be mild for all of us with our vaccination status and general decent health, I still worry, and that's why we've continued to be so careful. I don't want Long COVID for any of us, and you never really know when something will go wacky. My grandma once had a mild stroke and my mom once had unexplained narrowing of her carotid arteries, so who knows if I might be at risk of random clotting from a virus that likes to do that. It is such a wild card and I can guarantee that half the people who ended up hospitalized (particularly the unvaccinated ones) never thought they'd be at risk. I take nothing for granted.
And again, this is all while the eventual end of in-school masking mandates is coming sooner than we'd like. The lack of a mandate inside buildings and businesses (it ended this week) doesn't bother me that much--although now I wish the arena would have still had theirs so there was no question in my mind what to do, since it admittedly sucked to be one of the few wearing one. But most of the time you're just walking past people for a minute or five and are unlikely to catch something unless you walk through their sneeze or stop to chat. That is vastly different than 20 students sitting in the same room for six hours with a teacher who is likely more at risk, or sitting at lunch for a half hour with elderly lunch ladies nearby. When kids down south didn't wear masks, schools closed. Transmission is down significantly here, but you can bet there will still be quarantined classes and closed schools again. I'm sure there will be a spike from Super Bowl parties and probably again from February break activities, so I think this particular lull will be short-lived. This whole experience proves yet again just how easy it is for there to be a case you're not expecting, and people will get burned by that. And who knows who those kids will take cases home to--immune-compromised parents, elderly grandparents, and siblings who could asymptomatically pass it along to others in their classes. It still seems premature to me, but the unmasking demands are getting louder, and people like us have likely given up because we know the end is near and these people don't listen to reason anyway. Our kids will still be masked but it won't make much of a difference if kids are freely spewing aerosols nearby.
So, what was supposed to be a fun start to the week has potentially taken a rough turn. Last night was so great, and apparently, in true COVID fashion, it actually was too good to be true. Lesson learned--again--but will it be learned the hard way this time?
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