The timing of my last post, Waiting for Covid, was extremely prescient. Only a few hours after it posted, my son tested positive. My daughter followed suit the next day.

We’d all been exposed so much at school, work and daycare that it felt inevitable.

I spent Monday and Tuesday worried for my kids and scared that I would start showing symptoms. I had tested negative a few hours after my son tested positive, and I was feeling fine, so under CDC and school guidelines for vaccinated/boosted people I was allowed to return to work on Tuesday (Monday was MLK day).

I had a concert to conduct on Wednesday, one for which my students and I had been preparing for months– years, really. It was the first concert since December 2019. The stakes felt so high, and the pressure so strong for me to remain healthy. I didn’t think my students would do well under a substitute conductor– they’re only fifth graders, after all, and this was their first concert ever.

With the help of my department supervisor and principal, we came up with a back-up plan in case I started experiencing symptoms. One of the middle school band directors came to my band rehearsal on Tuesday so that he’d have at least some knowledge of the music, the tempos, and the students if he had to jump in on concert night. I was so grateful to have him and my administrators supporting me.

On Tuesday night, I didn’t have any symptoms, but I wanted to give my body every chance to fight off the germs in my house. I took a sleeping aid and slept for 9 hours. By the time I got to school on Wednesday, I felt great.

I got to conduct all the concerts– the two in the afternoon, and the one at night. I had plenty of energy, and the concerts went very, very well. The kids were so excited, and I was so proud of them. It was a beautiful, celebratory comeback concert. It was also the most-watched concert in the school’s history, thanks to livestreaming!

It helped that at home, all was well. My kids had mild symptoms– very low fevers and some slight congestion– and both were completely fine by Thursday. My husband didn’t mind staying home with them so that I could do all my concert prep (and he ended up getting a snow day on Thursday anyway). I took off on Friday to help out, because my husband started experiencing symptoms and later tested positive. His symptoms have been much like the kids’, though more persistent.

Overall, we’ve been lucky. Thanks to vaccinations, symptoms were not serious. My concert happened. I was able to food shop for my family. My kids were fairly happy at home, despite short bouts of boredom. We miss all the grandparents, but they’ve been FaceTiming with us regularly.

As of 1:30 on Sunday afternoon, I’m still well and healthy (I did an hour-long exercise class today) and tested negative. But I know I’m not out of the woods yet.

I have another concert this week at my other school.

So stay tuned! (Pun intended.)

(I am not superstitious, but I admit I feel a little nervous about posting this, since last week’s post resulted in immediate positive tests. I will choose to live without fear, though!)

In other news, since I was home more this week, I was able to bake more. I made maple-bacon chocolate chip cookies on Monday, and brioche sticky buns yesterday. Both were INCREDIBLE. Recipes from Dorie Greenspan’s new baking book.