Scattered Thanksgiving Thoughts

I started getting sick the day before I left Seoul.  When I was sitting in the Seoul airport and getting the chills and body aches, I knew it wasn't a good sign.  When I got home, it was a full-blown illness.  By Sunday I had lost my voice completely.  Josh thought he had died and gone to heaven- I was home but I could not talk...perfect!  Side note--I learned this week that when my 2 1/2 year old is not listening to me, it's actually more effective to whisper really quietly so she has to stop and listen carefully than it is to speak louder.  Definitely putting that one in my parenting toolkit. 


By Tuesday I had 1/4 of a voice and today I have most of my voice, but my illness has traveled to my noise, stomach, and head.  I have slept on the couch almost every night since I came home last week because my coughing wakes up the kids and Josh.  I also got to experience what it feels like to take an Ambien but then not sleep due to coughing... you start seeing little green gnomes! (I also had a dream last night that my mom was throwing rocks at me and trying to seriously injure me. Weird).  Today I was absolutely miserable at work.  I was constantly coughing, sneezing, blowing my nose, or visiting the bathroom. I would have stayed home yesterday and today, if I had not been out for almost the past three weeks and out the remainder of this week.

To top it off, my commute home took 90 minutes due to an accident on 169 and I ran out of fresh kleenexes half-way through.  I was going to be late for Max's haircut (across the street- convenient) and Claire was going to miss gymnastics because Daddy had to stay home to watch Max.  Luckily, Grandma took Max to his haircut and Josh took Claire to gymnastics.  I caught the tail-end of Max's haircut (his FOURTH one in 12 months- incredible!).  I fed him dinner and played until Daddy and Claire returned.

Then I had to go to Target to buy ingredients to make a dessert tonight for tomorrow's Thanksgiving celebration with Josh's family.  It was honestly the last thing I felt like doing, but I took Claire with me at 7:00PM.  Lo and behold, Target was out of stock in some of the key ingredients for my dessert.

No problem.  I'll buy ingredients for the other dessert I was considering making.... the recipe is conveniently located on my phone.  Fail.  I forgot my phone at home.  No phone means no recipe which = no idea which ingredients to buy.

We went home empty-handed and I told Josh I'd have to go to Target again after we put Claire to bed and I collect the recipe.  Thankfully, he had his senses and suggested picking up a pie from Perkins.

Would it be perfect? No.  Was it real life? Yes.

So tomorrow we'll be bringing a French Silk pie from Perkins to the Docken Thanksgiving (I apologize in advance if that disappoints anyone) and I'll be praying tonight to finally start feeling better.

In a strange way, I am sort of thankful for this illness that is still going strong on day seven.   I rarely ever get sick and I forget how truly wonderful being healthy is.  Being in poor health this week has made me more thankful and cognizant of good health.  You never appreciate good health until it's gone...isn't that the truth?

Tonight I am also remembering my gratitude for my beautiful, healthy, growing, learning, funny, charming, potty-training (at least one of them), nutty, mommy-lovin', little children.  And for their father, who handled my 12 day absence with total ease. I keep being asked at work how in the world Josh managed to take care of the young children, and the house, and his job while I was away. I am thankful that that was my last worry while I was in Asia.  Frankly, he probably did better than I would have in the situation. For him, I am grateful.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving.  Enjoy the lovingly-prepared food (especially that French Silk Pie if you'll be at the Dockens) and the time with family.  And enjoy seeing the Packers get their first tick in the loser column.  Go Lions!