Category Archives: Family matters

In which we discuss matters of the family.

Family matters, On the Road

Reunited

Poppy and I flew from Detroit to Nashville unscathed, thanks to the nice couple from Texas and their 13-month-old twins who played with Poppy for an hour or so in Detroit; the mustachioed man in a Hawaiian shirt who carried the car seat for me while I toted two bags and a Poppy onto the plane; and our friend Jan, who met us at the airport and helped us wrangle Poppy and our luggage.

Poppy fell asleep as soon as I buckled her into her seat on the plane. She slept peacefully through the take-off, and she would’ve kept sleeping if the crew hadn’t made their oh-so-important announcement about the in-flight catalogue. She stayed awake and slightly cranky until we hit turbulence just before we got to Nashville. She snoozed through the bumpy ride, all the way to the equally bumpy landing and straight through until I unbuckled her from her seat. She was a little groggy when we met Rockford and Jan, so it wasn’t quite the joyous reunion I’d pictured. But once she woke up, she was very happy to see her dad.

Just as we were about to finish up our efforts at the car rental counter, the power went out. At the airport. I’m so glad we were already on the ground. I guess they’re equipped to deal with that sort of thing, but still.

Anyway, the power outage set us back about half an hour, and I got a free upgrade from a Taurus to a Hyundai Tucson (a comfortable little SUV with very little go). So we headed to Knoxville, where we planned to stay for the night. And it rained and rained and rained, and I saw some spectacular lightning. And then, about 10 miles from our exit, traffic stopped. And we sat and sat and sat. For two hours. And then I forgot which exit I was supposed to take and had to call Rockford from a payphone (in the rain). It was not a pretty sight.

Then we slept and got up and drove and drove and went to …

Our 10-year high school reunion

High school wasn’t really a horrible time in my life. It wasn’t, like, totally rad or anything, but I don’t have any mental anguish from the experience. But I still felt weird about going to the reunion. And it was, at first, surreal. But it ended up being fun. I’m glad we went. I don’t really have much more to say about that.

Family matters

Getting better

Last night.

Last night was a just-fine night. Until it became a bad night.

We were relaxing, watching TV, Poppy was playing. Then Poppy was throwing up. Over and over and over again. And then she got slumpy and so pale, and her lips were turning from rosy to flesh-colored to bluish. And then we were at the urgent care center and then the emergency room and the nurses were holding my baby down, trying to put an IV into her tiny hand, and she was screaming and crying and looking at me, so frightened and confused.

It was a bad night.

But today has been so much better. Poppy seems to be over her virus (that was the doctor’s best guess); she’s been herself again all day. And while she and Grandpa took a two-hour nap, I floated in the pool and played fetch with the dogs and read a book.

It was a much-welcomed break.

Family matters

Our day

Today we:

  • watched “Sesame Street.”
  • went to the grocery.
  • took a quick dip in the pool.
  • played outside with Lucy.
  • ate a very good dinner (Broccoli and Carrots with Cheese and Bananas with Blueberries!).
  • went to the park and heard some bagpipers.
  • had some ice cream at The Freezer.
  • took a bath.
  • read some books.

And now we’re trying to wind down for bedtime (with little success, from the sound of it).

The end.