I’ve been sick for the last two days.
This was to be expected, and not just because my kids just went back to school!
(Every parent knows that once your kids are in school - especially elementary school kids and younger - your home becomes a sick bay. Kids are germ magnets, kids are gross, and when little kids get together, they breed disease. These are the facts of the case, and they are undisputed. With fall bringing them back to school and kicking off cold and flu season, it’s inevitable that colds are going to cycle through your home.)
But that’s not why I’ve been sick. I’ve been sick because on Monday I got both my flu shot and my COVID-19 booster.
I know, I know. Covid is “over” and vaccines are “bad” and the virus is a “hoax” and vaccines are “microchipped” and I am a “sheep” and I am a “cuck” and you have your own “sources” and you do your own “research” and JFK Jr is “alive” and Trump is “president” and Elon is a “genius” and Biden is a “lizard” blah blah blah.
I don’t care. I don’t care about your weird beliefs and your dumbass conspiracy theories and your provably false interpretation of The Matrix. I don’t even care if you’re vaccinated or if you get the booster. I did care, back in the heart of the pandemic, when we still had a chance to contain it and prevent all the mutations and reach herd immunity and stop it from being a part of our lives for the foreseeable future, but that ship has sailed. I’ve stopped caring about you because you don’t care about anyone.
Besides, I didn’t get the booster for you. I got it for my wife, and people like her.
My wife has multiple sclerosis which requires medications that suppress her immune system and leave her vulnerable to all manner of infections. You think you get sick a lot when your kids are back in school? Mom and Buried catches everything. Including Covid, which she’s had multiple times.
At this point, Covid is largely an inconvenience—for most of us. Including me. But for my wife and people with chronic diseases or who take immune-suppressing drugs, or older people, or babies, or anyone else at higher risk, it’s much more than that. Not only does it hit them harder and last longer, it can also have longer-term impact on their overall health. (Long Covid is real, deal with it!)
Any infection my wife gets can spur on an MS relapse, and a Covid infection is worse than most.
So I got my booster as quickly as I could, and I had the chills and flu-like symptoms for a couple of days, and it sucked, but none of that matters. Because it’s not about me. Or you. (And it’s definitely not about Q.) It’s about everyone else. It always has been!
Unfortunately, to a large portion of the country, on a wide range of important issues, what’s best for anyone else doesn’t seem to matter.
Social Media Round-Up
Pop Culture Stuff
Last night, despite my age making it irresponsible and, frankly, dangerous to hold social outings on weeknights, Mom and Buried and I attended the Death Cab for Cutie/The Postal Service co-headlining show at Madison Square Garden.
While The Postal Service’s fake-electronic emo stylings, which appear on just one album, are supremely dated, they somehow went on second, and appeared to be the reason most people were there! We were mostly there for Death Cab’s set, which, like The Postal Service (which is also fronted by Ben Gibbard, hence the double-bill), consisted of just one of their (ten) albums, Transatlanticism, which played all the way through to celebrate the fact that it, sadly, was released 20 years ago. Right around the time my wife and I first met.
I introduced Mom and Buried to that album, and we listened to it a lot when we were getting to know each other, which makes it a sentimental favorite. Turns out I prefer Death Cab on record, rather than live, but we had a good time!
In other pop culture news, we had less of a good time watching the stupid The Morning Show, the first two episodes of which featured a trip to space with Jon Hamm as an Elon Musk stand-in, cyber attacks, the war in Ukraine, January 6th (merely referenced but sure to play a bigger role later), and doesn’t even pretend to be about an actual morning show anymore.
The Dad and Buried Podcast
We are bad at this. sorry.
I’ve been promising a new episode for weeks, but Mom and Buried and I just can’t get it together. Things are hectic this time of year, but between jobs and kids and travel and getting sick, things are always hectic. But we have a couple of episodes we’re itching to do, including a Q&A about our relationship, which people seem curious about.
Over the weekend, which happened to be our anniversary, she posted a story asking for questions and got a lot of them which we’ll tackle on the podcast soon! And we’re also going to do a September is hectic/Back to School/We got a cat episode too. I promise! I think.
Don’t hate me. And feel free to add any topic suggestions or questions of your own to the mix via the button below.
Transatlanticism was a favorite of mine and my sister 20 years ago! based on one concert we attended, I think we prefer Death Cab on record too! COVID boosters have been hard to come by in NC, but I keep trying to find appointments every day due to wanting to spend time with my three living grandparents in their late 80s for Thanksgiving! my SIL and husband also have autoimmune conditions which suppress their immune system, it's frustrating to keep seeing appointment times and no stock.
I need to get in there and get another Covid booster. Thanks for the reminder. ❤️