Home for Christmas

I spent a week in Alabama with the kids. John had to stay behind and work. We were all sorry about that. Other than that, my only regret is how sick I was the entire time. My dad asked me why I hadn't written a blog entry. What was there to write except the fact that I was sick? Not very interesting.

We had Christmas with my family on Christmas Eve and left yesterday morning. I was hoping that traffic would be light. Years ago, John and I traveled on Christmas Day and the interstates were practically deserted. Not so yesterday. I was amazed by the amount of holiday travelers on the road. The trip was long and feeling badly made it seem even more so. About 11 hours into it, Holly called her cousin to chit chat. They talked about everything from their favorite gifts to the beautiful moon. At one point, Holly told her that it was 37 degrees Fahrenheit and then told her that we were that we were "east". (The car has a digital readout.) She said, "We're east. I don't know what we're east of but we're east." I don't know if it was her matter-of-fact tone or just that I was extremely tired, but that struck me as hilarious. I laughed out loud in my still laryngitic voice. I laughed until I cried and needed to pull over because I was having difficulty seeing through the tears.

It's great to be home again. I'm looking forward to being well again. How was your Christmas?

Goodbye to Braces

The kids and I departed before it was even bright and early yesterday morning for a long, long trip to Alabama. The primary purpose for our wearisome journey was an orthodontist appointment for Gabe to get his braces off. The secondary reason was to visit family for Christmas. My sinus cold has lingered and driving for nearly 13 hours was torture. My throat was a bit scratchy and I decided that an icee would be the perfect treat. Unfortunately for me, every gas station I stopped at either did not have them or had strange flavors like blue raspberry or cherry. I only like cola.

After Gabe's lengthy appointment, I took Hannah to the mall and headed straight to the store that sells icees. Even though we weren't traveling, I still felt the need. They even had cola. Well, that icee was mainly fluff and no liquid. How hard is it to get a decent drink? I asked them to put a bit of coke in it and then it was great. Sweet relief to my scratchy throat. It's not a sore throat but one that is on the verge of layringitis.

Gabe's appointment went great! The braces are off and the 4 years of torture are over. His teeth look great. I'd post a picture if I knew how. (I'm on my mom's computer.) They took x-rays and the bad news of the day is that he needs to have his wisdom teeth removed. The bottom ones are practically perpendicular. Well, at least we can get that done in Virginia.