*March 15-19
Mikel’s Aunt Kay (one of his dad’s sisters) is the SWEETEST person you will ever meet. She is so unassuming and easy to host. She expects nothing but gives so much in pleasant company, easy conversation, funny stories and ready hugs. She dotes equally on us and on Nolan, and we love having her! She lives in Altus, OK, and Debby sweetly brought her out to visit us last month. It was a treat.
Well....... it was ALMOST a treat.
You see, we seem to hand Kay a black cloud, of sorts, when she visits.
The only time she got to come see us in Rochester, she accompanied Debby, who was making the long drive north for her very first urology workup at Mayo. And in case you need a reminder about how that went: Debby had labs and a CT scan to diagnose some ongoing troubles on Monday, and by Thursday she was undergoing a nephrectomy, spending the weekend in the hospital, and then staying with us for 2 weeks to recover before having her post-op check and driving herself back to Oklahoma (4 years later, I still shudder at the thought of her driving herself.... but that’s a tangent.)
Poor, sweet Aunt Kay who doesn’t drive and doesn’t fly was all but stranded in MN with us! Having left Uncle Wayne - a Type 1 Diabetic - propped up at home, intending only to be away for a few days, we were both (I’ll now admit) wringing our hands about how we were going to get her back to Oklahoma where she was needed. I was prepared to drive her down on a couple of days off, of course, but the Lord showed a grand gesture of benevolence and sovereignty (as He so often does) by providing a family from Sayre, in Rochester, at that exact time, who heard through the grape vine (the Sayre First Baptist prayer chain) that Debby’d had surgery at Mayo --- and they happened to just call and see if there was anything they could do to help before leaving for Oklahoma the next day. Um, WHY YES THERE IS. Please meet: sweet, precious, easy-going, unassuming Aunt Kay. While Debby was in the hospital, and Mikel there with her, this family who I had never met swung by our house to collect Aunt Kay, who they had never met, and it was a big cartwheel of hello’s and goodbye’s all at once. They deposited Aunt Kay back where she belongs -- Uncle Wayne’s still kickin’ -- Debby recovered -- and the rest is history. Now isn’t that just like God?!
Needless to say: Aunt Kay has long-since been deserving of a re-do. So to Arizona it was! Oh, what grand plans we had.... walks, dinner out, maybe a swim, playing with Nolan. One big party. That is, until the STOMACH PLAGUE OF DEATH found our house.
It is about a 14 hour drive from Sayre to Phoenix. A dry, boring, supremely ugly 14 hours. We were expecting them mightily -- and about 45 minutes before they were due to arrive, Nolan retched all over his dinner plate. Uh... what? No, you aren’t sick. You just gagged or hiccuped. Yeah, that it. A false alarm. Whew.
Then he did it again and got kind of sweaty. No, no, no... This is one of those toddler-ism things and it’s not contagious. For sure.
Debby called to give an update (“We’ll be there in about 30 mins!” Fiestaaaaa!), and I jokingly said, “Well, fair warning in case you want to turn around now -- Nolan just threw up twice.” Ohhh, what a jokester. har har har!
They arrive -- come in, come in! welcome, welcome! hugs hugs, kisses kisses -- here’s your room -- what can we get you to eat? Nolan, give Aunt Kay a big hug! we love Aunt Kay! -- let’s show Grandma the trampoline! and the hammock! ohh fun fun fun.
Nolan acted 100% himself. All smiles and play time!
I see you, Aunt Kay! And my belly bug is coming for you!!
Sly.....
Everyone played and Nolan went to bed, then we all enjoyed dinner together. We sat around catching up, hearing stories, snuggling some doxies -- then hit the sack. Oh, how well we all slept! ...Or so I thought. Until the next morning when I learned that Aunt Kay had been up sick all. night. long. She stumbled back to bed that morning -- and literally did not surface until the following day’s evening: 36 hours later. I kept checking on her to make sure she had a pulse. It was the saddest thing ever!
Then came the dominos.
First Mikel.... tho manifesting differently (I’ll leave the specifics of that to the imagination. You’re welcome.) I too was feeling queasy, but not sure if it was real or out of sympathy for the ailing, as nothing further seemed to be developing. In the meantime, I claimed wellness in the name of Jesus!!
While the convalescents convalesced, Grandma and I worked to keep as many stucco walls between us and the sickly, which meant play time outside. This is one hands-on Grandma! And up for anything. Which is great, except when you’re talking about rubbing elbows with Patient Zero, who - notably - was still acting totally fine.
I have no idea where Nolan’s pants went, but I guess we didn’t think it was worth risking entry to the house to retrieve them.
Daddy’s Audi: the playground of lights, bells and whistles.
Look who emerged from the depths! Aunt Kay, though weak and drained, was rounding the corner. Nolan heard her belly was sick, so he broke out his doctor’s kit to give her a good checkup.
......And lest you think she escaped unscathed, the next morning, Debby ventured from her room, white, clammy and sluggish to the tune of: Yep! Puke central, all night.
If there’s a silver lining to be had in all of this, here it is:
1) No one was sick longer than about 36 hours, and it passed before their departure date.
2) We FOR SURE get to give Aunt Kay another re-do.... if she dares...
3) My own queasiness wasn’t viral at all, but more human in origin. Actually 2 days before their departure back to OK came this very happy news:
(Forgive me, Grandma and Aunt Kay. We probably should have told you at the time, but -- well, no one had much celebratory energy, and I was in a bit of denial that this was true and I had in fact escaped the Black Plague!)
With very little to show for the week together..... the day came for them to start their trek home (they wisely made it a 2-day venture this time!). Since, finally, no one was road weary or feeling like death warmed over, we snagged these few pics.
Smile like you had a great time!! *click*
Really sell it to me now! *click click*
Patient Zero himself.
Cutest mug shot ever.
No hard feelings, pal.
Seriously, Aunt Kay -- come back. Please. Third time’s the charm. It has to be.
