Endings and Beginnings

December didn’t go quite as I had planned. If there is one skill I’ve needed to learn as a mother, it’s flexibility. I’m not naturally flexible or spontaneous, so it isn’t an easy lesson to learn. But I’ve had lots of practice.

Autumn brought two months of a never-ending cold (mostly sinus pressure and sore throat), ending in a nasty bought of the flu—fever, chills, serious aches, and a throat full of shards of glass.

Early December brought a week of crazy-cold weather. Snow, ice, rescheduled activities, burst pipes. It sure was beautiful, though!

My grandparents came to visit on December 12th. The morning of December 13th, Rilla was throwing up. We thought it was food-related and everyone got together that evening. Two days later Shannon, Ben, and my parents were very ill. And then Lola was sick. I was sure our whole family would get it considering how contagious the bug seemed to be, so we cancelled more special activities…and no one else got sick. (Miraculously, my grandparents were mostly spared. Their health could not have withstood the stomach flu.)

We attended a birthday party, had dinner with the in-laws, spent Christmas with my family. And then Levi got sick (two weeks after Rilla). Everyone was feeling well the next day, so we had dinner with another family. Then the next evening Leif was sick.

What to do. Levi’s birthday parties were two and three days later. Do we cancel? Or cross our fingers? (My sister, mother, and grandparents were leaving for California the day after Levi’s birthday.) Everyone was well two days later, so we went to another family’s house for a New Year’s Eve party and brought four teenagers home with us for an overnight computer gaming party with the boys. (How did I end up with four teenagers?!) We all got to bed at 2am (after singing Happy Birthday to Levi at 12:06), and I fed everyone a big breakfast of eggs, sausage, waffles, and hot chocolate the next morning before prepping for Levi’s big family and friends dinner birthday party. I wasn’t feeling so great by mid-afternoon, but I knew it could be sleep-deprivation.

The house was clean(ish). I’d put up a few Doctor Who decorations. Made blue suede cupcakes with sparkler candles. Everything was ready other than the last-minute prep. (Getting ready for a party is a huge amount of work for me. It felt like I had spent days, even though it wasn’t a particularly big or detailed party.) Russ had ordered a bunch of pizzas (I wanted dinner to be last minute in case we had to cancel) and was headed out to pick them up. And then I felt much worse.

What to do. I drank some miracle tea and lay down, realizing that someone else might have to do the last minute prep when they arrived. Then I felt better, got my second wind, and was able to finish everything up before anyone arrived.

We had a great time with family and friends, and Levi was grateful for the celebration.

But I was going downhill as the last of the party was leaving. And then I was sick. Luckily it wasn’t too bad, because Lola was up much of the night, as well. Argh!!! But I decided, even though I was feeling quite a bit better, to spend the entire next day in bed. Heaven.

And now, almost three days later, Luke is sick.

Seriously, this is the never-ending stomach flu. Not a terrible one, but how does an entire family cancel all activities for the entire month of December?! At the rate we’re going, Russ will be sick in a few days. Who knows? Maybe we’ll cycle through to Levi again. Sigh.

At any rate, I apologize to anyone we may have passed this bug on to.

And I’m ready for a fresh start to our new year…It may just be a little slower coming than I had hoped.