Wow! What a weekend. The best way to describe our vacation is complete madness. Our family had the intense occasion to experience several different highs, lows, and firsts all in the same weekend. So here is the run down…
I was fluttering around our home and town preparing to take a much anticipated mini-vacation. Beings I was excited to see my in-law family, and excited to work, I was trying to get my to-do list accomplished rapidly so we could leave town, perhaps even earlier than scheduled. The kiddos and I took our truck to the car wash to clean things out and off, when we arrived back at home (because the smallest of our work crew had to potty) I was jumping with joy to see that my shipment had arrived earlier than I had anticipated. So, as I did the yippee-dance with my sweet little Tater Tot, I waltzed around the front of our truck, and rolled my ankle straight into the flowerbed off of the concrete parking pad. I am relieved to say that Tater stayed on my hip and felt no affect of my klutzy moment, I did however!
We limped up the stairs, and as I had a rush of what was pretty intense shock I had to sit down to prevent what I was sure to be an inside-out stomach. The hot flash came and went and I was left with a throbbing ankle, pain in the knee, and pain in the… bottom. I was not able to actually walk on the thing quite right and I realized that I could not pick up my toes, so the phone calls were made and it was off to get some pictures of my swollen peg.
Honestly, I should have seen six days on crutches as a bad omen of sorts. However, Hubby helped and we were off the next morning, crutches, kids, dogs, luggage, and my work gear. I had never had the experience of having to utilize crutches before, and they took some time to get used to; I can say I am still not used to them. They also left me with extremely sore shoulders and arm pits.
The trip to Denver, Colorado itself really was nothing out of the ordinary if you consider we had with us two small dogs and three young children. The travel time went surprising fast, which was definitely not the case coming home. We arrived and unloaded then a small time later my mom and dad-in-law also arrived, and then another short time later my youngest sister-in-law arrived with her friendly pup. We were fourteen and we were ready to have a good time…
Out of the blue the youngest of our 14-some came down with something not so symbolic of a good time.
Saturday was here and it was time to get to business. I cannot work on crutches, not from a chair, as my demonstrations are better done standing, I stood, with some pain and swelling but I am glad to say that things started to heal pretty rapidly for me. I enjoyed the demonstration and had a wonderful time with my in-law family ladies, as well as their guests. Then since work was done, it was time for our carved out family time.
The next day was Sunday and we were off to church at Bear Valley church of Christ in Denver. It was a beautiful day outside both sunny and warm but not intensely hot. I enjoyed visiting and meeting people my husband often mentioned, we enjoyed a fellowship meal and headed back to our hosts home.
Then a few hours later my father-in-law came down with it! It was awful, he was very sick, very fast, and there was nothing anyone could do to help him to feel better! Tater Tot hadn’t been feeling too well and had some light symptoms of the tummy bug, but fortunately she recovered very quickly and it never got to grizzly. We headed to the park leaving the patriarch there to rest, after all who can really rest when there are seven children in a house and three puppies? We had a lovely time for the first few minutes; the Sweet Pea told me she had a tummy ache. It was only a matter of forty-five minutes from the time she mentioned it before it escaladed, and then finally became something VERY BAD. We picked-up some tummy supplies and headed back to the house.
Perhaps it was the anticipation, maybe just a freak happenstance but the ladies of the house did not go to sleep that night until extremely late. I had that adrenalin rush that comes from watching one of your babies so sick she seemed vacant of her own body, my mother-in-law I am sure had the same from her husband’s illness, and she knew it was coming for more of us!
By three the next morning it hit me, hard, then an hour later my darling Hubby has also hit by the screaming Mac truck blazing through their home! Then another baby, then another adult, and another…
Dominos really! Except dominos don’t care how many bathrooms a house has, or how uncomfortable it is to be sick in someone else’s home.
My mother-in-law took care of all of us, the fallen the few standing, the laundry, the dishes, the sanitizing, the pups when she could, the cooking, the soup, the crackers, and of course the 7-up!! I have a good deal of respect for her, but now I can say I appreciate her in an entirely new sort of way!
Our traveling home day finally arrived and Sweet Pea and I were in no condition to make the several hour trek back home, as much as we all wanted to be in that comfort. We rested, were sick, uncomfortable, and felt like nuisances to our host family.
The journey home the next day was interesting to say the least! I can say I now know several stops between the outskirts of Denver and home; some nice, some not so nice, and some down-right awful. We managed to stop at an alarming rate of every half hour until we reached our home and a generally six hour trip managed to take closer to eight and a half hours, but we were home, got cleaned up, rested and prepared ourselves to get back into gear for the remainder of the week.
Besides the laundry, car cleaning, and settling back into the groove, we tried to help Sweet Pea recover. Her poor little tummy did not want to cooperate, in fact here it is a week later and it is still not quite willing to get on board. She is doing much better but it is hard to see her lacking so much energy, it was especially hard to hear her turn down her soccer game, but she knew she could not muster what she needed to even get to the court let alone run up and down several times. She is making progress now, and it is a sight for these sore eyes, and overly sensitive mommy senses.
Seeing my little princess so sick was a learning experience for me, of course one I hope not to have to repeat anytime soon, but it was also a great reminder of the blessings we have and the amazing abundance of those blessings. How often is it that we pay little attention to the amazement of health, or our children, or those wondrous loving ties we have with our family; even an imperfect family? I often find myself trucking along to that next challenge, mess, or goal, paying little attention to the simple things. I suppose you could say this calamity served as a good reminder for my family and me to slow down, appreciate the simple things, and to not get so chained -up in life that you are no longer free to appreciate it!
In the end I am glad that mishap did not stop our experience, however difficult it turned out to be, there was a valuable lesson to be had.
Thanks for Stopping By
~Shy Willow
~Shy Willow
*originally published on A Mom’s Handbook. com
~Sensually Yours~
Shy Willow