Before most solo trips, my anxiety kicks in and I imagine all of the ways the trip can go sideways and reasons why I won’t make it back home to the kids and Martin. From tragic to trivial, my head runs through all likely (and unlikely) worst case scenarios before I finally shut down the mental hurricane and actually leave. And 99 times out of a 100, the trip ends up totally fun and my irrational fears are quieted for the next time.
Unfortunately for me, my trip to Bend was that 1 out of 100 where I probably should have listened to my gut.
Like always, I was feeling anxious about my upcoming trip. Even the night before I left it seemed surreal that I was going. I chalked it up to my nerves and the fact that we had just gotten home from our two week road trip which I was still processing. But hey, I had been here before. Just a little nervous energy and excitement.
Once I got to Bend (I flew up Wednesday morning) my head shifted to enjoying every minute with Cody and Brenda. While I had just been to Bend with the family in October, everything about this trip was different. They picked me up at the airport, we had an incredible lunch at Wild Rose Thai, we had a soak in their new hot tub, we got drinks at a fancy bar in town and we then had the best meal of my recent life at Bos Toros, one of the restaurants in the group Cody works at. I know I am one to exaggerate, but this meal was everything. It was decadent yet casual. Deliciously new yet approachable. It also didn’t hurt that it was Cody’s birthday dinner, so we got complimentary champagne and wagyu beef, the chef stopped by to say hello and we had the best table in the house.
Thursday morning Cody had to work, I had to work and Brenda had to run errands so I spent most of the morning alone at their house getting through my emails and a few meetings before Shannon and Anna arrived that afternoon. I said goodbye to Cody and Brenda around 2 and packed it up and made my way to our hotel McMenimans downtown to meet up with the girls for the rest of the weekend.
Within a hour of their arrival it was like no time had passed since we first met in Zurich nearly 15 years ago and four years since we were last together. Yes, we had a few more kids between us, a new significant other, new jobs, new homes and a few more wrinkles and grey hairs, but the core of the friendship is still strong. I guess that is what you get after experiencing such a life changing event together like living abroad
The weekend flew by between brunches, shopping, drinks and our traditional sushi dinner. And we had one more thing to celebrate, Shannon’s engagement to her longtime boyfriend. We also got to meet and spend time with a few of Shannon’s friends from home who came down to celebrate her engagement as well.
We left Sunday midday and like all previous trips all was right in the world and my anxiety and fears were unfounded …Until they weren’t. By Sunday night the tickle in my throat I had thought was the result of smoke from an outdoor fire pit became a little more scratchy. The chills I thought were just due to being tired from the five days of drinking and not sleeping became a little more aggressive. And while the Covid test I took that Sunday afternoon said negative something continued to nag at me. I wore a mask during the two hours that evening with the kids and slept in the couch hoping to feel better in the morning. And while I did feel better that Monday morning the Covid came back positive. After two years of avoiding the plague, I had managed to somehow catch it during my trip.
It could have been from any number of places: the unmasked passengers on the plane there and back, the kid who threw up behind me on the flight to Bend, my Uber drive to the hotel, the two loud drunk guys sitting next to us at the fire pit who managed to both slur and over-annunciate every third word they yelled or it could have been any of the numerous casual encounters with waiters, people on the street or shop attendants. Unfortunately I will never know. The good news is that no one else got sick including Cody, Brenda, the girls and my family at home.
The bad news, I had Covid and Martin was officially on parent duty for another few days… 10 more days to be exact.
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