Publisher’s Letter: When Covid Comes Home…

Last week I wrote about my 11-year old son showing Covid-19 symptoms — his test was positive.

It’s not easy knowing this worldwide pandemic has not only reached Northern Colorado but my own family. My very active little boy quarantined himself in his room. What’s worse is how stressed he’s become about getting anyone else in the family ill. He put a sign on his door: “Knock and Talk,” NOT TO OPEN THE DOOR. While it’s sad, at the same time, his concern for our family is touching.

After an entire week of serving him meals in his room and reminding him that he can’t come downstairs, I finally broke down. I decided he needed fresh air and a break from the house’s confinement, so this weekend I took him up to our mountain property.

With no fever or remaining symptoms, I decided the risk probably wasn’t any greater than the risk I had taken when I slept next to him 10 days earlier — right before he showed symptoms.

At a distance from each other, out there in the fresh mountain air, we felled dead standing timber on our burn property — big trees, little trees, chainsaws, and axes… oh my, we had fun!

Then, we searched among the living trees and found just the right one — and we cut down our Christmas tree — to be replanted with more than one replacement. It was a special time. I could tell he appreciated being outside in our favorite place. Sadly, the rest of the family couldn’t be there this time — it was just too risky.

I have heard so many stories from people close to me about being ill and having loved ones who are ill. And one of my younger friends was hospitalized and came close to dying.

These past few weeks have been especially tough on our family — heck, the entire year’s been tough. Keeping both of my young boys focused on school at home while all this is going on has been only one of our many challenges. On their computers, they are so easily distracted, and we find them sneaking YouTube and online games when they should be attending to their studies.

So, what can we do? Well, we can learn to focus on one day at a time. If we maintain our health on a day-by-day basis, we can accomplish what we need to, learn from it, and move on to tomorrow. And before we know it, we will get through this. One day we will have memories to share of this most unusual time. And one day, the children will go back to school, and our lives will start returning to normal.

With a vaccine on the horizon, one can only hope.

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