23/07/2025
blove shared: My son may have caught CVID before the world even had a name for it.
Blove Shared: A Powerful Family Memory Right Before the World Changed
Looking back, it’s hard to believe how close we were to the edge of something that would shift the entire world. Our 2020 family trip to Las Vegas was the last time we all traveled together before the p*andemic hit—and at the time, we had no idea how much life was about to change.
We were in Vegas, just soaking up the lights and excitement, while the whispers of something called “COVID-19” were quietly growing louder in the background. I’ll never forget the moment—just a couple of days into Darius’s spring break—when we got an email in our hotel room. His school had announced an unexpected two-week closure. At the time, it felt like a spontaneous break, nothing more. So Darius packed a small bag, flew to Arizona, and then to Ohio, thinking he’d be back to normal life in no time.
But that “little break”? It turned into a whole year.
One of the most vivid memories from that trip was seeing Criss Angel’s magic show. During his performance, he paused for a deep monologue about life—about how nothing is promised, and how we should never take our health or time for granted. He even mentioned the “new virus,” calling it by name: COVID-19. We all looked at each other like, “What is that?” Nobody was wearing masks. We still thought it was something happening far away.
What’s truly chilling, though, is that Darius might’ve already had C*VID before we even knew it existed.
Back in November 2019, he came down with a severe illness that looked like the flu—but tests showed otherwise. Twice. Both flu tests came back negative. The hospital waiting room was completely full, and everyone there had the same symptoms: high fever, fatigue, chills, uncontrollable coughing. Doctors couldn’t pinpoint it. They just said it was some unidentified virus that had already hospitalized a large number of college students.
They gave him antibiotics for three weeks, but nothing worked. His condition lingered. He lost 12 pounds, and the body aches were so intense, he couldn’t even get out of bed. At first, I didn’t realize how bad it was. You know how Black moms are—we’ll say, “Boy, you’ll be alright.” But this wasn’t one of those times.
When Darius called me again, still bedridden after nearly two weeks, my heart sank. His friends were messaging me out of concern. They hadn’t heard from him in days. Some even feared the worst.
Darius believes he may have caught the virus in California or at the airport. He had recently visited San Francisco, and ironically, California would soon report one of the first confirmed cases. When he went back to Cali in January, he got sick again—only this time, it was milder. Maybe his body had already built up some kind of defense.
The worst symptom? The unbearable body pain. Darius said he had never experienced anything like it. The fatigue, the weakness—it was more than just being sick. It felt like his body was breaking down.
Looking back, that trip to Vegas was more than just a vacation. It was the closing chapter of a world we used to know. A memory frozen in time, just before everything shifted.
And now, we hold onto that moment—not just for what we did, but for what we didn't yet know. For the laughter we shared without realizing how rare it would soon become. For the days when simply being together wasn’t something we had to risk. That memory reminds us: life can change in an instant. And what we cherish most—our health, our family, our time—is never guaranteed.
