Why I Missed MSWF 2022 - At Yarn's Length

For about a decade now, I’ve been attending Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. I’m blessed to live within a couple hours of this regional festival that draws hundreds of vendors to the Howard County Fairgrounds each year. Due to COVID, it was not held in 2020 or 2021. MSWF 2022 marked the festival’s return to “normalcy.”

I was so looking forward to a return to the festival I remembered! My kids were looking forward to seeing the animals and eating fair food; I was happy to have them tag along. We had the perfect Mother’s Day outing planned!

I just couldn’t wait to experience it all, then share it all here.

Just before bed that night, I made last-minute notes about the booths I wanted to hit and what backup footwear we should bring. I knew it would be muddy, though I had heard through social media that the fairgrounds had added gravel to avoid some of the mud pit issues we’d faced in prior years. I still wanted to be prepared.

That night, my sleep was restless. I woke up and kicked the heated blanket off of the bed, irritated it had been turned up high enough to cause me to sweat. Then I woke up and pulled it back over me, shivering. I repeated this process all night.

On Sunday morning, my alarm went off and I ran straight to the bathroom, certain I was going to be sick. I had the worst nausea of my life and the world was spinning. I started thinking back to the meals I’d had the day before, trying to pinpoint the cause of this illness. I was certain it was food poisoning and wanted to warn my family.

By 8:30AM, it was obvious I was not going to make it to MSWF 2022. My husband ran out for medication and peppermint Lifesavers, my sole request. (Peppermint helped keep my nausea at bay through all three pregnancies.) I made it through Mother’s Day by taking shots of Pepto-Bismol and sleeping when my fever permitted. I only ate three of the Lifesavers.

That night, my fever seemed to break for a bit. I commented to my husband that I could only remember feeling close to this bad once; that was 20 years ago when I had mono. At this time, I made the change to Dayquil/Nyquil, as my symptoms also seemed to be changing.

I canceled my dentist appointment on Monday and slept until 3:00PM. My husband arrived home late that evening with a home COVID test. I took it and it immediately turned positive.

I was devastated, but also relieved. How many people could I have infected at the festival? The timing that originally felt so terrible for ruining my Mother’s Day plans suddenly felt perfect.

I still don’t know how I got infected and I probably never will. My husband tested positive a few days after I did, after presenting very different symptoms. So far, our kids have not tested positive and I’m incredibly grateful for that.

So MSWF 2022 was a bust.

In 2023, Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival will hold its 50th annual event the first weekend in May. And this time, I’ll be there!