The Flight of My Ideas

First my apologies for being silent for so long. I really wanted to rescue that one blog in February from a life of solitude but alas, it wasn't to be. The last two weeks of February were a bit of a blur. I was on service and the respiratory viral season has finally hit the hospital. I had to get my hair colored twice in one week because my stylist missed a section of my head. How does that happen?! Then I came down with a mean case of the dreaded "influenza-like illness". Let me tell you, I've never felt muscle aches and chills like that before. I empathize with so many of my patients now. Somewhere during that illness I have a vague recollection of spending the night at an indoor waterpark in Gurnee, IL and eating dinner at IHOP. True story. On February 21st, my grandfather passed away in hospice after suffering from a stroke on January 8th, the same day as the shootings in Tucson. As my dad put it, that day the country suffered a tragedy and our family suffered a tragedy as well. Because I'm stubborn and hate paying exorbitant amounts of my hard earned money for poor service, I chose to snub 'the man' by driving instead of flying to Tucson for the funeral. My husband drove with me, bless his heart, for 1800 miles there and back. Two fingers on my left hand are still numb from driving but we did it and it was an amazing experience that we will never forget. Not only were we able to see my grandfather's brothers and sisters and meet my dad's cousins but we spent hours hearing stories of my ancestors and looking at old family photos. I returned to Madison with a renewed sense of pride and connection to my roots that I haven't felt in a very long time. My husband and I ate McDonald's and Cheetos and Corn Nuts and Twizzlers and in the process deepened our friendship and commitment to each other. And we learned we can sit in a car for 16 hours straight and still laugh at the end of the day. I am immensely lucky to be married to such a wonderful guy.

So here I am, finishing another week on service and still coughing. I see dog hair tumbleweeds all over my house and haven't talked to any of my friends in weeks. Our suitcases have yet to make it back into storage and I have a lingering feeling there is some bill I haven't paid. But I'm so happy to have the life that I have. And spring is coming.