This is the end of the second week of my Covid experience. Yesterday was rough; today was much better. Except for my runny nose and lack of taste buds, I felt pretty close to normal. I feel like a basketball getting bounced by a sentient virus.

I am grasping the danger I was in, at 75 years of age, with heart disease and diabetes; I was close to Ground Zero for the pandemic and was conscientiously vaccinated and boosted as recommended.

Covid-19 didn’t care about that; it came after me and spun me upside down.  I’ve learned a lot about it that I didn’t know.

It is clear to me that I would most likely have died three years ago. Something to keep me focused on resting and going slowly.

With my chronic conditions, I’m not entirely out of the woods; Covid often leaves a lot of damage behind.

Today was a good day.

We went shopping and did some chores together, and I drove without trouble.

I walked around the farm until the sun drove me inside; I watered my plants, took some neat photos, blogged and meditated, read my book, and listened to music.

Tonight, Maria and I plan to watch two shows on Netflix that we have come to like a lot, “Mo,” the story of a good-hearted, resilient young Palestinian illegal trying to get some papers in Houston, where he has lived almost all of his life, and “Attorney Woo,” the charming and touching story of a brilliant autistic lawyer in Korea.

Both shows are subtitled and offered warm insights into other cultures.

I have decided to take another week before I go back to the Mansion. I think I can go to Bishop Gibbons on Thursday if the people I want to interview are there and I go early. I am very eager to get out and continue this work.

I went out and got some nasal spray (thanks for the recommendation, reader), which has helped clear my congestion. I’m doing dishes and doing some animal care, feel like I’m getting busy again. Maria still tires but is gaining strength and making art, two good things.

I am still weak by late afternoon.

She is taking great and selfless care of me; I have needed it and am grateful. She’s also somehow managed to get a lot of art made and sold. She can take good care of herself also.

I was thinking today about all those caretakers, ambulance drivers, restaurant workers, and bus drivers who had to go back to work four to five days after getting Covid. Many of them died or struggled for months.

I am fortunate to have to rest at home and keep away from hospitals and ventilators. Life is wonderful but not fair. Many people have lost spouses, grandparents, fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers.

I hope we will one day see a memorial to them in Washington. Today I feel more and more like myself than at any time since I got the virus. My energy is steadily returning, not as quickly as I’d like.   I do have to remember that I’m 75, something I often forget.

This is a good omen. I’ll take it one day at a time.