Episode 66 – Close Contact, Convenient Excuse…

The family that claimed close contact – but kept their distance just fine.

Ah, the pandemic. A time for reflection, banana bread, and discovering just how far people would go to avoid pulling their weight.

Some families grew closer during lock-down. Mine? They discovered a goldmine of excuses that even the CDC would struggle to verify.

It started with one text:

‘We were in close contact with someone… so unfortunately we can’t come near Dad’.

Reasonable. Sensible. Responsible.
Until it became the ongoing family mantra.

Every week, a new ‘exposure’. It was like living in the world’s least efficient game of tag. They weren’t close contact for the shops or their own daily freedom strolls or Instagram, but for Dad? Oh no – suddenly they were wrapped in plastic and awaiting clearance from the HSE.

Meanwhile, I was here.
Doing it all.
Day in. Day out.

No time off. No ‘support bubble’. No clapping on the doorstep for me. Just me, the kettle and a daily dose of martyrdom.

Funny how ‘close contact’ only applied to obligations, not opportunities.

You’d swear I was the outbreak site of the decade, yet they managed to collect post, peek at paperwork and circle the property like estate agents in hazmat suits any time there was something to gain. Miraculously immune when inheritance was mentioned but highly contagious at feeding time.

And let’s be real – they didn’t even need COVID.
They’d been socially distancing from responsibility long before 2020.

Now I have my own opinions on the plandemic but that’s for another post (with a strong cup of tea and a working sarcasm filter).

Today’s focus is this:

When crisis hits, you find out who’s truly willing to show up and who’s only here for the photograph at the end.

I didn’t need applause. I needed a day off.
I didn’t need masks. I needed backup.
And most of all, I didn’t need their excuses, printed out like guidelines from a family full of self-appointed public health officials.

So next time they wax lyrical about how hard it all was for them, I’ll just nod.
Because if there’s one thing they’re still allergic to – it’s the truth.

Lesson of the Day:
Some people wore masks. Others just used the pandemic to finally take theirs off.