Not Geena Davis!
Get sick and make it dramatic.
Alexa, play “Seasons” by Hollow Wood, just so I can feel the sweet threat of danger.
I tested positive for Covid yesterday. I was so serene about the whole experience all the way home, which is honestly pretty unlike me. I was running late for an interview, so I didn’t want to spiral or anything. Yes, it meant that my trip home for Christmas was cancelled. It also meant a second year without my family. And when I told my mom, she pretty much hung up on me because she was so upset. But I was serene!
Until I wasn’t.
After I finished up the interview, I threw my jacket across the room and considered punching a wall. I didn’t actually punch the wall though because I have a weak wrist from a ballroom dancing injury and I don’t want to aggravate it. [hold for laughter]
I feel things so intensely, and I’ve struggled to explain that to people my whole life. It’s just that I feel everything so dramatically, and when I’m sick or injured, it’s doubly bad. I enjoy it. I actually pity people who operate between a four and a six because living life on an emotional scale of two to nine? That’s a roller coaster ride worth taking.
Anyway, remember how I told that story about breaking my foot a few years back? I had to have surgery on it a few weeks later, and surgery was the only silver lining—not the procedure so much as the drama of the surgery. It happened to align perfectly with the apex of Geena Davis’ story arc on Grey’s Anatomy, too. In the episode “Staring at the End,” fetal surgeon Dr. Herman finally gives in and allows Dr. Amelia Shepard to operate on her inoperable tumor. Scary, right? The episode aired the day before my surgery, and all we could see at the end of the episode was Geena Davis being wheeled in for surgery, all while that song at the top of this page played in the background.
The next day, I went in for surgery. It was decidedly less tenuous in nature. But I don’t think I’d processed that this was my first major medical moment without my parents around. My friend Matt came with me to drive me home afterward, but behind the scenes, it was just me, sitting in the hospital, humming “Seasons” to myself until they wheeled me back. As we entered the operating room, I panicked and asked the doctor if everything was going to be ok, and they said, “For sure” and swiftly put the mask on me. I was out.
Apparently, as the story was told to me, I woke up and immediately asked the nurse how Geena Davis was. The nurse said she wasn’t sure, and then, allegedly, I yelled, “Someone check on Geena Davis!” before leaning over the bed and throwing up on the nurse. When Matt picked me up from the holding area, the nurse told him that I was deeply concerned about Geena and that seemed to be worrying me. I have no memory of this.
Geena lived, by the way. In real life and on the show: she did, however, lose her eyesight. I only have two scars on my left foot and the instruction from the surgeon never to wear heels, for fear of repeating the break.
As for the Covid, things are fine, though I am looking for ways to make it more dramatic. But for now, please stay as safe as possible. Protect yourself and your loved ones, get the vaccine, and if you’re the praying type, send one up for Geena Davis. Just in case.
Some neat things from my world:
I spoke to Sam Elliott about The Oregon Trail, among other things.
Joe Manchin was an idiot, and then Bette Midler was an idiot, and I felt spicy about it.
If you prefer a Christmas tune, try this one. My national anthem.