What's New In The World Of Fleen?

I'll bet you have all been reading these past few posts and thinking," Wow. This is great. Kathleen had a good time on her trip. But what is she doing TODAY?"

And so today's post is going to catch you all up on this past week.

Let's see... when last I left you I had come home to find Nathan encrusted in vomit, and spent the night tending to him. (I know, I know, I'm being dramatic.)

The next day, Tuesday, went well, and Nate seemed to recover. I thought we were done with it, and went as far as to plan the rest of my week.

But Wednesday morning, Nicholas came down with it. It was spectacular. Especially the part where he ran down the stairs to tell me he was feeling ill, building to a never before seen run-puke-leap over it move that will go down in Olympic history.

Thursday the boys all seemed fine. I was sure, once again, that it was over. I even changed all the sheets in our house.

And then came Thursday Night. They predicted snow, but we got none. Instead, we got rain, and lots and lots of wind. I could hear it whistling and howling as I read my book. And then we lost power. If I did fall asleep, I was awakened by what sounded like a lighting crack. Actually, it was some trees being blown over in our yard. And then Nick ran into our room and threw up in our bathroom.

If a stomach bug is bad, then a stomach bug with no power is very bad. And two sick children with the stomach bug is very very bad, especially when one of them is Andy. Yes, Andy walked into our bedroom and tried to climb into bed with me and Steve and Nick, and when I picked him up he was covered in it. And his bed was a pool of sick.

Steve relocated to the couch, and I put towels down on our bed, and sat up all night staring at Andy and trying to guess if he was just breathing or about to vomit, and then cleaning it all up.

The next day was Friday, the last day of school vacation. We turned the generator on and hoped the lights would come on soon.

Saturday night was the night I was supposed to sing at the Coffee House. I really had been looking forward to this performance, but unfortunately one of the other singers lost her voice. We tried running through the songs but they really did sound awful, so I headed home to be with my family in the dark. No performance for me.

Actually, it was Serendipity at work, because fifteen minutes after the performance would have started I got hit with the stomach bug truck. And last night was my turn to be sick all night.

So today was Sunday. I skipped church. I skipped writing group. I took Nick to a birthday party and waited for him at the bookstore. We still have no power. I have six loads of laundry, most puke infested, waiting for the washer. Not including what's in the hampers.

And I know this is bad form, because there are people in this state with no generators. There are people recovering from 8.8 earthquakes out there. And we are still, all told, luckier than most. But... you know... who needs a boat in the Virgin Islands when we've got all this?

Not that I'm bitter. Or that I begrudge anyone anything. I don't. I'm just in awe of the timing.