February was a busy month, multiple states, planes, trains and buses. Jodie landed in Las Vegas on a Friday, worked all day and by Sunday could not get out of bed.

Intense Migraine, body pain in her spine and flu like chills. As this escalated, she took herself to the hospital and found that she tested positive for Covid 19.

Jodie remained in isolation for two weeks. In the state of Nevada there were few cases so she was a big risk! Never showing signs of respiratory complications, but her body was in continuous intense pain. The experience catapulted Jodie into another reality, separating her from her family and all human contact, except for the nurse and doctor, being poked all day long even in the middle of the night.

Jodie set up some rituals as a way of coping, writing for hours and hours. Stretching, even cleaning her bathroom. One of her favorite rituals was washing and pampering her face, thankfully she had her personal belongings with her and was able to use all of her skincare steps. Her kids were a million miles away, and the rituals were reminding her of the beautiful sunny home back in Brooklyn, the puppy, and her family.

The sense of touch became her own survival kit.

As Jodie recovered and returned home two weeks later, she has been taking each day as it comes. Trying to stay optimistic and laughing a lot with her kids and continuing her daily routines. Her cousin recently called to check on her as she thought she looked sad, and Jodie responded ‘I absolutely am‘ this is all sad and a bit off, however if we can acknowledge our emotions we can find small acts of joy. A different moment is what we can hope for, sharing insight, some anxiety and joy and even sadness, we need to acknowledge that so we can move forward...