The Second Time Around

Just before a great number of people in my community had COVID, I wrote a blog that began this way: “If anyone was afraid of getting COVID, it was me. I actually thought that if I got it, I would not survive. Usually, I am a fairly obedient person. By that I mean I agree with the big policies of my community,” and I usually obey the rules.

At the time of this writing, I have now had COVID twice, and even though I am not as good as new (I have lost some of my sense of taste and some of my sense of smell), I feel I have many years yet to live, even if I were to get COVID a third time. Now this is not to say that I am glad I had COVID, but I mean to say that I am grateful for God’s life plan for me rather than my apparent plan for me.

Obviously, God has plans for me simply because I am still living and actually feel rather healthy. You know the way we humans are—not only had I convinced myself I would not live if I got COVID, I also believed that a person could not get COVID twice (DUH!). And I was sure a person who had COVID once was then immune to the virus (this is the theory that if you suffered through it once, you were rewarded with immunity. DUH, again!).

Okay, enough about me. What about the rest of the community?

Well, many sisters have had COVID, some more than once, but no one has died. Every so often, even now, as with me, another sister gets the virus. We have all been vaccinated and are careful about being in crowds. So, we are doing the best we can, but we have no idea when COVID will leave us. We simply live each day as God planned.

Mary Jane Berger, OSB