Well Darling Ones, I do believe we are in the waning days, maybe even hours of my COVID infection. Today was the first day I didn’t wake up feeling like my lungs were filled with mold. However, I’m fucking exhausted despite sleeping pretty well last night and I’m not sure what that is all about. Because COVID refuses to totally vacate the premises I decided…
Hi Darling Ones, I was eight when John Lennon was killed outside The Dakota in December, 1980. I do not not remember a lot about his death, though I do have vague memories of reading about Mark David Chapman and his obsession with Catcher in the Rye in an issue of People, my mom’s favorite magazine. The Beatles meant nothing to me at that age….
Dear Darling Ones, My sense of taste has returned and you can rest easy knowing that it is as impeccable as you’d expect. As I just told a friend, I’m so happy about the return of taste that I’m not too annoyed at the other lingering symptoms. Mostly, there’s a cough I can’t seem to shake. Occasionally, my chest rattles. The biggest COVID-related annoyance is…
Darling Ones, Do you remember when I first thought I was infected that I didn’t think there would be any real value in getting a positive affirmation that I had COVID? I was wrong. Here’s the good thing about getting a positive result when you’re already sick: it’s validating as hell. I knew I was sick. Nobody in my life accused me of faking it….
Hi Darling Ones, I cancelled the rest of the week because I feel like a saggy bag of garbage with an 18-hour (and counting) headache that no amount of ibuprofen & acetaminophen can seem to touch. This headache is so awful it sent me to bed at 9:30 last night and woke me about every two hours throughout the night. It’s the kind of headache…
Hi Darling Ones, There’s a delicate balance to answering the question “How are you feeling?” when you live all by yourself and have been stricken with the plague. It’s difficult to communicate how you feel like mold while trying not to alarm the asker. If you factor in my Minnesota stoicism, my bordering-on-psychotic need to be seen as capable and independent, and my phobia about…
Darling Ones, I lost my taste!* My sense of smell went with it. When I read about this being a side effect of COVID I had no idea how jarring it would be. What is the point of eating if you can’t taste it? I’m torn between not wanting to eat anything at all, because why waste the food if I can’t taste it, and…
Welp, Darling Ones, Did I 100% jinx myself by complaining about COVID the other day? Absolutely I did. No amount of logic or rational thinking is gonna convince me otherwise. While I won’t know with absolute certainty if I’ve been stricken with the COVID until the at-home PCR test I ordered arrives, I take it, send it back, and get the results, but I’m pretty…
Hello Darling Ones, I’ve been reading Nichole Perkins’ essay collection Sometimes I Trip on How Happy We Could Be, which is charming the daylights out of me. Despite being fiveish years younger than I am and a black woman from Nashville, Perkins and I share an affinity for many of the same pop culture touchstones. Namely, Janet Jackson’s “Control” album and what it meant for…
Dear Darling Ones, For one night only I’m bringing back the COVID Diaries. I wish with my whole entire heart that was true, but my existential burnout coupled with my frustration has me predicting I’ll be writing about the Upsilon variant sometime in April. WE ARE TWO YEARS INTO THIS NIGHTMARE HOW ARE WE STILL SO BAD AT IT? The other day I told a…
