I have yet to test positive…that’s mine on the right. Kathy’s, unfortunately, on the left.

(Sunday Paper, Year VII, Issue 37)

I was all excited this weekend to tell you about something different I was going to try this year for football season.

As with so many things these past two-and-a-half years, though, COVID had other plans.

Unlike a lot of our pandemic experience, this isn’t a cancellation - just a delay.

So I’ll still be telling you about it - it’ll just have to wait until next week.

In the meantime, we’re waiting out some positive tests.

I should clarify - not my tests. None of mine have been positive for the past couple of years.

To be clear: I do not have COVID.

Yet.

It would be a shocker if I avoid it this time, though.

Our oldest daughter had it earlier in the week…and Kathy caught it at the end of the week.

I have still managed to test negative through Saturday afternoon. (They don’t call me “Johnny One-Line” for nothing!)

(Nobody calls me “Johnny One-Line.”)

You may remember one of our other daughters was sick a couple of weeks ago , which almost derailed other plans.

It’s starting to be almost embarrassing if I don’t get it from my daughter or wife…how is it that we’re not close enough to breathe the same air?

I’m making light of it because we’ve been lucky - there’s been sickness and inconvenience, but nothing worse than that.

And I will now stop making light of how fortunate I have been out of respect to those who have not been as lucky.

Kathy is missing part of a work event that she’s been working hard to plan this week…I’m missing out on something fun I had planned.

There are worse situations to be in.

None of the three members of my family have suffered through this for more than a couple of days…and they don’t seem to have been as sick as my youngest and I were way back at the beginning of all of this when we likely caught it before we knew what it was.

If there’s anything positive out of this weekend it’s that Kathy caught it when she did - she will likely be able to make some of her event and not miss all of it, and our daughter should be back to school and things should get back to normal this week.

And, based on how down for the count Kathy was for most of Friday and Saturday, we’re also lucky she and I didn’t both have it at the same time.

What I’ve Been Enjoying

“Beauty Behind The Madness” - The Weeknd
“The Marshall Mathers LP” - Eminem
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Zootopia
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
The Town
The Descendants

Notes

*Well, it finally happened - the Mets fell out of first place Friday night, but only because Atlanta hasn’t cooled off the way that baseball teams are supposed to. It’s disappointing but it’s not earth-shattering. It’s just hard to appreciate how well the Mets have been doing when another team has been almost super-human.

*Last week I mentioned how I’m back to training. I was really worried after resting following the two marathons how my body would react once I started running again, since it’s never dealt with anything like that. I’m happy to report things are going well. I actually feel less achy when I run than when I’m idle (like I was all summer). I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but I’m going to lean good.

*The social links are below if you want to give them a follow. Thanks!

*And I’ve written about ti before, someday I’ll probably write about it again, but for now I’ll just say that even though I’m excited it’s football season again and I’ll spend the day watching sports and doing some work and taking a COVID test and dealing with all of that…I will be thinking all day about the fact that it’s September 11.