Not the best day ever

Yesterday my sister’s son (who is not even two months old) was hospitalized with RSV. As you can imagine that’s been hard on their family and of course the rest of us to a lesser extent as we watch from afar. I don't have an update yet from my mother, because I'd planned to call her this morning. As you'll see from the rest of my entry, I got a little sidetracked.

This morning I woke up with an intestinal bug. I should mention I’m prone to get them, although I almost never get colds. But I can also force myself to wait to do the stomach/intestinal bug deed until I’m someplace private or more convenient to do my business. That ability stood me in good stead this morning.

After I’d made several necessary trips to the bathroom early this morning, I headed back to bed. Sometimes I can sleep through the worst of a virus like that, and that’s what I planned to do today. I woke up shortly before 10 and thought I would feel better if I were clean, so I took a shower. Just as I was getting out, the doorbell rang. That’s not entirely unusual because UPS and FedEx always ring and usually won’t leave the package. I debated not going upstairs since I was dripping wet, but my overdeveloped sense of duty won out and I threw on a robe, my slippers and headed up the stairs.

Our front door actually opens into a small foyer that has another door leading out to the iron grate door. This detail is important in understanding what happened. I unlocked our front door so I could get back in because I hadn't grabbed my keys on the way up. I opened the exterior door, and it was FedEx with Kent’s Zune—fortunately the package was small enough to fit through the iron grate door outside. But when I tried to open our door, it was locked. This meant our door had actually been unlocked for a couple of days and I’d inadvertently locked it.

Well this was not good. I could feel those puking urges building back up but pretty clearly there was no place to do that. Plus my wet hair was dripping down the collar of my robe. On the positive side, I was stuck in the entryway, not actually outside, and there is a small wall heater there. On the negative side, I didn’t have my keys or my phone and still don’t have Kent’s number memorized. After all, I (almost) always have my phone with me . . . Also on the downside, the carpet in that entryway is beyond filthy with leaves and sand and salt from this winter. But that was the only available place to sit.

Long story not quite so long, I tried getting someone to email Kent by hollering at a couple of random strangers on the street who I am sure were convinced some crazy woman was let out of the loony bin too early. Fortunately I heard an upstairs neighbor come down and she very kindly emailed Kent, who came home as fast as he could. As you can imagine, I immediately burst into tears because I was so thankful I wasn't going to be stuck out there until 5:30 or 6PM. I was also really glad Kent wasn’t traveling.

So the take away for me is two-fold: memorize Kent’s number and get another key made we can hide in that foyer.I’ve been inside for about 45 minutes and took a second shower and I’m still cold. Time to drink more hot water and call my mother.