On January 7, one day after driving Mom home from hospital on discharge from the COVID isolation unit, I came down with a high fever and tested positive after 3 years of avoiding COVID. My fever remained high despite ample doses of Tylenol, and after 4 days I had to go to the ER, where I waited ~14 hours to be examined and was sent home with instructions to return if my condition got worse. Well, it did. Within 24 hours, I had trouble breathing and we had to call 911. Thankfully, an ambulance came to our house within 15 minutes and the paramedic immediately put me on oxygen. I was driven to the ER and admitted Sunday early evening, and later that night a CT scan confirmed I had COVID pneumonia. Over the next 3 days, 3 doses of remdesivirhelped restore my pulmonary function and my blood oxygen level eventually stayed above 93% while I was weaned off oxygen. I was discharged on Wednesday afternoon, and I went home, still heavily congested, but I didn’t lose my sense of taste or smell or have other neurological impairments, unlike some people I know. My family doctor advised me not to return to work for 2 weeks.
Fast forward to February 6, my first day back at work: I was laid off from my technical writing job. They assured me the decision wasn’t in any way performance-related, but it still stings. I was given two weeks’ severance pay.
Thankfully, Caroline has a small but steady income as a church music director and accompanist, and she continues to teach a handful of piano students in our home. This turned out to be a good thing given my unemployment, because we ran into unusual expenses associated with several household and car repairs. Despite this, we took a long-overdue summer road trip to visit Caroline’s Dad (Dominic) and brother (Kevin) in B.C. It was great to see them after a COVID-induced holiday hiatus since 2019; chatting over FaceTime is still not as good as chatting in person.
Soon after we got back to Calgary, CJ started his Fall teaching practicum at Guardian Angels Catholic grade school, but halfway through the term he withdrew from his St. Mary’s University B.Ed. program because the supervising teacher at Guardian Angels School had threatened to fail him after he performed unacceptably — in fairness, he had been asked to teach Music and French, subjects he was utterly ill-prepared to tackle. He has been accepted into the Educational Assistant program at Mount Royal University and will start in January 2024. He continues to work part-time as a dining room server in the Arbour Lake Retirement Home, a short drive from where we live. He loves this job, mostly because he enjoys interacting with the seniors.
I’ve been applying for jobs almost daily, but my efforts so far yielded only a handful of virtual interviews that haven’t led to any offers. In the meantime, I’ve earned a bit of income through a seasonal school photography job with Lifetouch from August to November, and I completed a handful of freelance photography assignments. At the end of 2022 I had to vacate the studio I had rented since 2019, and this prevents me from taking on certain types of photography assignments. I continue to look for suitable, affordable studio space, but for now I have to shoot jobs on location.
This pretty much sums up my 2023. Despite a number of setbacks, I’m thankful for every blessing. May 2024 find us all in good health and high spirits.
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