Feliz Navidad

For the last month IT Girl and I have been planning a Roommate Reunion for the weekend before Christmas. We had a great plan - I would pick her up from the airport on Thursday night, and Friday we would work from my house and then go to the grocery store for dinner ingredients. While making dinner we would drink wine and watch movies. Saturday night we'd go out on the town and Sunday I'd take her home.

Thursday and Friday went just as planned. Dinner was delicious and oh the wine we drank (I was disappointed in the movie, but one can't have everything). We were a little tipsy when we went to bed, but surely we'd recover in time for Saturday night drinks and dancing.

How wrong I was...

Imagine my disappointment in waking up at 1:30 Saturday morning to find that I'd been infected by the Hantavirus (ok, maybe I'm being a little dramatic). I was very congested, coughing, achy all over, and my head was pounding. I thought I could attribute achy and headachy to the wine, but to my knowledge it had never caused congestion and coughing, so I was pretty sure there was something else wrong. There was - I had the flu.

IT and I were still determined to go out that night, so I popped some Airborne, vitamin C, and ibuprofen and went to the couch to get some more sleep. No luck. I woke up around 9 am sicker than before.

After spending 2 days drugged up and in quarantine and another day on the couch, I am feeling a little better. However, I do not think IT has fared so well. I got a text message from her this morning that said she thought she was dying.

Sorry....

25 Things I Want To Do In My Lifetime

I was at Glinda's* the other day and she was telling me about a page that her scrapbook teacher did with 25 things she wanted to do before she turned 25. (Yes, I threw up a little in my mouth as well.)

But I often think about things that I want to do and I forget to write them down, so I thought I would post a blog with the info to remember it all...

1. See a baseball game in every Major League Stadium. (I've done Colorado, Boston, and Arizona so far. BodyBuilder* has talked about doing this with me, in which case I would have to start over with her)
2. Go to Mount Rushmore.
3. Master a signature dish.
4. Eat pizza in Italy.
5. Flamenco dance in Spain.
6. Drink in Ireland.
7. See the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center.
8. Get married.
9. Become proficient in Spanish.
10. Write a book.
11. Publish that book.
12. Give birth.
13. Learn to surf.
14. Visit all 50 states.
15. Learn to ballroom dance.
16.

Shoot - that's all I can think of right now. If I've ever told you something that's not on this list - please let me know...

Thanks, Speedy God...

Ok, bloggers, I'm going to get serious here for a minute, please bear with me. (When inspiration strikes me, it would be rude of me not to share with you, my loyal fans.)

Last week, my mom's cousin passed away. It was sudden and unexpected. This particular woman happened to also be the pediatrician for all of the children in my family. She was a hardcore doctor. (She yelled at my mom when I was very small and my mom took me in for a check-up only to find out I had walking pneumonia...who would have thunk it?) Yet, I can't imagine what our lives would have been like had we gone to another pediatrician. My nephew was also a patient of hers, and the few times I went in with Sissy* for his medical needs, the office still looked and smelled the same. It is true that some things never change.

Anyway, the funeral was yesterday and as I sat in the church next to Bunner* going through mass, I remembered that when I was a small child I used to think that after the 1st and 2nd readings the response was, "Thanks, Speedy God." (Perhaps only the Catholics will get that.) It made me smile a little and I leaned over to Bunner and told him.

On our way to the burial, I told the rest of the family that story and they all laughed.

Let me back up a minute, the eulogy was delivered by the niece of the deceased and she did an amazing job. I hope that some day someone will say such nice things about me. But, in part of her letter she asked, "why did it have to happen so suddenly." Later on in the day my mom mentioned that there are Italian women all over the world praying the rosary that when it is their time to go, it happens suddenly. (I was a little bothered by that.)

Tonight I was thinking about that again (I honestly have no idea why), and it occurred to me that maybe I wasn't so far off the mark, thanking a speedy God. Perhaps Dr. D thanked him too when she got to the pearly gates.