I begin feeling sick while returning home from my 40th birthday trip with my family. I had several firefighter friends who were out with Covid at the time, so I was familiar with the symptoms. We stopped at a med stop on the way home, and it was confirmed. I tested positive for COVID-19 and the Flu. I immediately begin my quarantine process. I was sick, fever, chills, bad cough, loss of taste and smell. But the physical pain was not as near as draining as the mental and emotional stress that came with being quarantined. My thoughts were everywhere. Naturally I wondered if or when my health would worsen as it had for so many others. I was constantly checking my breathing, wondering if it was harder to breathe now than it was an hour ago. I wondered about my family and what would happen to them if I didn’t make it out of this. The blessing in disguise was the time alone with God. I knew I needed to take a break to reflect on the past 40 years and get a focused plan together for the next 40 years. Truth be told, I wouldn’t have done it without a mandated quarantine. Covid was terrible, but it taught me several things: How much I needed God How fragile and short life is. Relationships are essential, cherish them. Live your life to the fullest, you only get one.