sickies...

Yesterday I took the tree down and hauled it out front, and yesterday evening we had a simple New Year's Day dinner at my place, complete with hoppin' John for good luck and family fruit cake for desert, we being A, Alex, Chris, Wiggle, Mike, Christo, and me. Mike didn't eat much, as he'd gone out for a late lunch with a couple of his friends in the afternoon. After dinner we sat around the fireplace in the living room and talked into the night, as we generally do when we have the pleasure of each other's company. Mike said he wasn't feeling well, and at about 1:00 AM, he got sick; so sick that I thought he might have food poisoning, except he didn't...at about 2:00, the bug hit Chris, and Alex came down (or rather, got up) with it at about 3:00 AM. For the next few hours it was sort of like a big, bad game of musical chairs with the bathrooms at my place. At 4 AM Christo and I, still well, made an emergency run to 7-11 for Gatorade, and at 7:00 I was up watching Wiggle, who, having been sick on the 30th and New Year's Eve, now apparently feels quite well. At a little before 10:00 Katharina came over and picked up Wiggle, who spent the day with her. Well, that's an understatement: she, Brenden, and Chris took the X-man and Wiggle to The Nasher for the day (first Saturday of the month is family day), after which they took Wiggle back to their place where Kath entertained him, did his laundry, picked up more diapers, and even mended a couple of things before bringing him back this evening. Is she terrific or what?

While she was doing all that, I went back to bed and got some sleep while I could. This evening, the worst appears to be over for Mike, Chris and Alex, who though achy and running fevers are no longer bolting suddenly from whatever room they're in, competing for the closest bathroom. Food is still sufficiently abhorrent for all of them, though, that I went out for a bite to eat rather than risk nauseating them with the scent of any food. I also made a run to the grocery store, where I picked up more Gatorade, Ginger Ale, tea, soda crackers, bananas, and cans of chicken soup with rice. This evening everyone is vegging in the game room in front of the television set, watching movies and grateful to be feeling slightly better. If you have to be sick, it's good to have family nearby.