Sunlight, Sprite, and Saltines

Happy Spring y'all (or postapocalyptic winter, depending upon where you are reading this from today #coloradoblizzardof2016).

Cherry blossoms are in full bloom in DC.  I am opting to NOT voluntarily subject myself to hideous beltway traffic on a weekend to be surrounded by hoards of people in the Tidal Basin today. Mmmknothanks.


Two weekends ago I was in Colorado.  Thankfully, the bizarro blizzard that hit the mountains this last week kindly waited until I was safely back in the arms of eastern standard time.  Which actually brings up a tidbit I will kindly share:  I highly recommend spending the sad lose-an-hour-of-sleep weekend of "Spring Ahead" daylight savings in a different time zone.  It helps to not feel so downtrodden about the sleep disturbance (which I know pales in comparison to the glorious light that we get at the end of the day) when your body is already a wee bit whackado (though I still maintain that the term "jet lag" should only be reserved for full coast-to-coast-cross-country or transatlantic/transpacific travel - 1-2 hours is NOT jet lag, folks)

I had a wonderful 36 hours w/ the fam (and Dana.  who is fam.).  My parents were going to CO for a grandbaby visit and to help my brother and sister-in-law with some homeowner-type projects, so I decided to book a lightning round flight to spend some time w/ everyone while they were under one roof.  It was great.

Except for getting the first dog bite of my life.  Which was not so great.  And kind of annoying.  And a bit painful. Stupid dog.  (and silly animal control office for thinking I would actually go and seek medical attention - clearly he does not know the headache that is Tricare when injured outside of your geographic region of coverage and the fact that I only voluntarily seek medical attention when a full organ system in my body is in failure and continues to baffle highly-trained medical professionals and/or I deem that I may be on the brink of death).

It was a nice weekend.  Though I had to laugh.  I had gotten the weather report from my mom (not sure why I cast her as meteorologist and didn't just look at my phone. . .).  While it was 70, sunny, and humid when I was leaving VA, I anticipated being welcomed by more mild 50s/60s mountain air.  So I bundled up and dressed for CO spring weather for work on Friday (which felt *awesome* while waiting in the sticky metro station 24 minutes for my train to the airport) but stepped off the plane to equally fabulous weather.  I wasn't about to complain.

Last weekend was not quite so stellar.  In the last decade I have fortunately maybe been ill 3-4 times.  Last weekend was one of them.  Being sick when you are alone = nonawesome.  I woke up Fri pm feeling pretty ghastly.  I knew I needed to get downstairs to get a glass for water, something to potentially vomit in, and to reset the internet (which had been malfunctioning all week) so that I could try to send Philip a message from my bed on Sat am.  This was my mission.  I thought awhile about how to get downstairs but laid on my bathroom floor awhile instead.  I then mustered the energy (after contemplating crawling down the stairs) and some how made it down the mountain.  Very dizzy and unsure if I was about to fall I had the thought "in addition to the glass, bowl, internet I HAVE to get my dinner dishes from the end table because if I hit my head and someone comes and finds me here at some point I cannot have them judging the state of this house."  I took care of all items on the task list.  Got upstairs.  Collapsed in bed.  And didn't leave for 24 hours.  My feverish state of mind (and the joys of autocorrect) was captured well by this text exchange with Philip:

P:  How are you feeling
J: I a lottwinge b to teach t ok.  Stopill rough
P:  You ate a lot of wings but you taught them to be ok?  Go back to sleep silly!

I finally texted a friend coherently on Sat pm requesting that she bring Sprite and Saltines on her way to/from church on Sunday.  I had to insist that she not make a separate trip immediately and provide proof of life.  She came the next morning and of course brought two kinds of soda, crackers, bananas, Gatorade, and a beautiful bouquet of flowers.  Seriously, I don't deserve the people I've got in my life.

My thoughts on the dog bite/flu:  Could have been about a billion times worse.  For real.

In other news: Philip got his first day off in over two months.  For the record, I have not heard a single complaint come out of his mouth about workload/pace.  What a champ.   He also returned "home" to two months of mail after doing some traveling for awhile.  He may or may not have consumed all of the Christmas Spritz cookies my mother sent him in a single sitting upon opening a care package she had sent awhile back.

Tomorrow is Easter.  And every day I live how I live because of what tomorrow means.

Sometimes The Church or people inside the church get it wrong.  Christ never has.  His love, His sacrifice, His hope, His grace is unchanging.  What an overwhelming, humbling, beautiful, beautiful thing.

Last weekend, the fruit, the flowers, the liquid electrolytes of various varieties were above and beyond and left me still in my tracks.  How much more that I never have to question my salvation.  That I am fully free from guilt or an exhausting trying to earn-my-way/do-enough pursuit of trying to be "good enough."  I'm not.  And it's okay.  I don't have to try.  He is enough.