Vulnerable ≠ Disposable
Nine months in a bubble with an immunocompromised person. 06.07.21
It was the end of August 2020 when we decided to create a bubble with my husband’s aunt and uncle.
We were outside on a perfect summer evening, having spent the day on the North Shore of Lake Superior together. We did a countdown.
Ten … nine … eight …
On zero, we all shouted, “BUBBLE!” and our girls ran screaming with happy giggles into the wide embrace of Jenny and Todd. It was a sudden rush of emotion for all of us, unexpected in some ways.
After months apart, we could hug again. We could share a meal inside one another’s homes again. Maybe this is naive, but I didn’t realize how hungry our girls were for unguarded physical closeness with people who weren’t us.
We decided together on appropriate protocols based on what we understood about the science at the time: we weren’t going out anywhere except to get groceries, always masked or using curbside pickup; we weren’t sharing indoor air with anyone outside the bubble; if any unavoidable potential exposure occurred (like when Jenny had her lupus appointments at Mayo Clinic, or when our older daughter had to have some teeth pulled), we’d wait two weeks to see each other indoors again.
