February 2026 Recap
The hardest month in a long time
60 days into 2026 and if I could sum up this year in one sentence, it would be this: 2026 has been the cumulation of some of my worst fears all happening at once.
To best describe how February was a nightmare, we have to go back to the last week of January. I’m in the car with my boyfriend, driving to H-E-B, and my sister calls me. My sister does not typically call me unless she needs help with something or wants to deliver terrible news - like calling me to tell me our family dog died in 2021.
This call was the later, to tell me that my dad and aunt were talking about sending my grandfather to hospice care. He’d been sick off and on since the fall, and looked rough when I had seen him at Thanksgiving. After several stints in the hospital and rehab, he was just not responding well and mentally he was ready to go.
Friday night, he went to hospice. Sunday, February 1st, at 9:15 at night, my dad called: my grandfather had passed away. He had been 95, he was ready to go, but it still caught me off guard. A week before that, I had no idea it was the end.
I was incredibly lucky to have 32 years with three of my four grandparents, but now I hope my grandfather is up there with my grandmother, after being apart for fourteen years.
Needless to say, I took time off from work, I didn’t go back to work until February 12th, I think. I worked Thursday and Friday and then woke up sick Saturday morning. I thought it was allergies, there was a cold front that came through that day that kicked up stuff, but by the end of the day, I had spiked a fever (I think the last time I had a fever was in 2020) and my muscles were sore, muscles that don’t usually hurt, like my hips.
Sunday morning, I finally broke down and took a Covid/Flu test and I was positive for Flu A. Even now, two weeks later, I still don’t feel 100%. Prolonged talking irritates my throat and I have this cough I can’t seem to shake. The stress of this month is showing up physically, too. My acne is the worst it’s been in a while, my hair is falling out more frequently and I am not sleeping well.
February is only twenty-eight days long but it felt so long. I am truly hoping that March is boring and normal, because I need some of that.
And while most of the month felt like I was floating in another reality, there were still some good moments. We went a Super Bowl party after getting back to Austin, I got to see some of my mom’s friends at my grandfather’s funeral. My mom has two friends who I’ve known really my entire life, and it was nice to see them. At one point in my life, they would have been the women I would have called if I couldn’t get a hold of my own parents.
My grandfather that passed away was my paternal grandfather, so to see people show up to support my mom as she lost her father-in-law, it was really sweet to see.
At work, I’m so incredibly lucky that my new supervisor is so protective of her people. While I’ve dealt with the flu, she’s moved me into queues where I didn’t have to speak and irritate my throat and I had my annual review this past week that I think went really well.
But, even in those moments, most of the month was lackluster. I didn’t write any words and in fact, in the past few days, I’ve had to think about what my writing is going to look like for the rest of the year (I’ve decided that 2026 actually starts today).
I did read three books in February.
My Husband’s Wife by Alice Feeney
Most Eligible by Isabelle Engel
The Future Saints by Ashley Winstead
If I had to sum up February, it would simply be: I survived.