come here often?

spent the better part of the glorious 70 degree long weekend weather, soaking up a different kind of heat.  as if the miebs family hasn't had enough illness in the past 6 months, we needed another dose, i apparently needed another dose, of the ickies.

on saturday morning, i woke up to ben heading out the door at five-thirty.  he leaned over to smooch me, and i turned away and muttered i don't feeeeeeel goooood.  he retreated and told me: get some sleep babe, i'll call you later.  i woke up an hour later.  then another hour later, then like 45 minutes later.  super-sore neck.  body aches.  high temp.  enlarged tongue (at least it felt like it!), narrow airway... i knew what this was.  oh, yeah.  i knew what this was all about.  having had strep for the first time within our 6 month icky window, i knew i had it again.  only, time created this haziness.  i didn't remember it feeling like this.  i didn't remember feeling this close to death.

i scrambled.  2 unanswered text messages and 1 unanswered phone call to benji left me to my own devices, to fend for myself.  must. call. mother #2.  at eight in the morning, my mother in law sounded like an angel in purest form.  oh, sure!  i'll be right out.  another reason it would be nice to live closer.  an hour away seemed like f-o-r-e-v-e-r.  thankfully, jack had only been awake for an hour and was content to watch a disney flick while i moaned and tossed and tossed and moaned.  his version of rubbing my back is so sweet, it melts me.  either that, or it was the 102.7 temp that was melting me.  mama, you sick?  no feel good?  i feel good.  i'm fine.  mama, you need doctor?  or you need dada?  the barrage of questions and answers and comments would normally make me smile and laugh, and all i could do for him was a pathetic nod and pronounce a half-yes while drool spilled from my cheek.  dylan june, bless her heart, woke up the moment nana pulled into the drive way.  walking like quasimodo to free jb from his room, i was certainly not looking forward to pulling the 20 pound girl from her crib.  and now, i didn't have to.

fast forward a few hours, i found myself at urgent care.  only by the grace of God did i arrive safely.  i don't remember the drive, nor do i even remember getting dressed because as i looked down at myself while waiting to be seen, i noticed my shirt was inside out.  and here's the thing about fevers and illness, you can be so in every moment, feeling every pang of discomfort and yet, at my discovery of inside-outness, i started to take my shirt off to, oh, i don't know, look more presentable?  i obviously never looked in the mirror, Lord knows what my face/head/hair/teeth looked like...

after passing out at the clinic and climbing into what felt like an eight-foot truck, i sobbed all the way home, in my mother's ear, no less.  mother: annie, you need to pull over.  annie, you're scaring me.  me: i'm fine.  i just want my bed!  and of course, lots of other pathetic little phrases looped in there.

so.

with every "lesson" in life, you learn some key factors which will hopefully give you a heads up for the next time around - you know, like, no surprises.  (God's laughing at that one...)  i really think though every icky illness is a surprise.   just like childbirth, you kinda forget until you're in it again, like oh, yeah, i remember this...


in no particular order, these are my discoveries:

• moms cannot get sick.
• mother-in-laws are AMAZING (please note, i sung "amazing" as i wrote it!) 
• husbands are clueless
• after two and a half days in bed, you can get quite caught up on dvr programs
• with dada in charge, your kids are gonna be filthy little beings (don't even get me started on what happened to dylan's reddish-orange locks)
• a 60-hour fast really does quite the trick on losing those pesky pounds
• hearing from the other room no jack, those are mama's pills concretes that i will never be addicted to any sort of pain pill or medication
• now seeing what my children look and smell like when dada's in charge, i can pinpoint those kids in public, for sure
• ohhh, what's the phrase hell in a handbasket?  yep, that was the house after two and a half days of what ben calls my vacation.  he's a real crack-up, i tell ya.

i just want to take a minute to thank my mother lynn.  you have no idea how much you helped me out!  you saved my children from starving!  you kept them safe and happy!  you allowed me to rest and sleep and you did exactly what i needed!  i cannot thank you enough!  and yes!  i mean all these exclamation marks!  thank you!  i love you!  (and i did a smaller version of this face-to-face with her and with a chuckle she replied mom's get sick too, i get sick, don't worry.  love her!)

so that's it.  now onto the 6k i'm supposed to run tomorrow.  ask me how much i've trained in these past few days...