Nyquil Utopia

So, a week ago Wednesday, a lovely lady I consider to be one of my best friends in all the world, on top of, being the lovely lady that introduced me to all sorts of naughty things in life, like coffee, took her three girls and left our lives once again.

My coffee buddy was gone.

My house was still and quiet.

(My kids were outside).

I felt exhausted...my neck was sore, my joints were sore, I certainly had overdone the visit.

And the coffee. I was visiting the loo in record numbers.

Went to bed early and woke the next morning feeling much the same.

Except I was stuffy, my head hurt, and my stomach felt like two aliens were inside cage fighting for some title.

Yep, I definitely was coming down with something.

I spent almost the whole day in bed, in fearful anticipation of being sick while driving five kids, two hours to Nashville for a non-stop, full-weekend Wedding Event, of which we were a part--no hooky allowed. Told the kids to watch movies, fix PBJ for lunch, don't answer the phone or door, stay inside and not to even think about whining to me about some petty argument. Basically, the "if you're not bleeding, don't bother me" speech. I woke for about two hours in the evening to pickup tents made from blankets, vacuum the floors, do a load of laundry, shoosh the kids off to bed and write a blog while waiting for said laundry. Then I zonked, again.

Friday dawned very bright and extremely early but I felt quite better and uncharacteristically energized, probably brought about by the adrenaline rush my body was experiencing from having to wake the kids for showers and teeth brushin' (no b. o. allowed during travel), load the dishwasher, feed the dog, pack bags, fill the tank with gas, supply the troops with snacks and drinks, remember the items Gerald had forgotten to pack earlier in the week, download and print directions, not forget any of the wedding items and be headed out the door by 10 a.m., bound for Music City, USA.

The trip went smooth, not even one bathroom break was requested. We didn't even have a TV for entertainment this time. The only glitch was taking the wrong exit in route to pickup Gerald downtown. He'd been at a convention in Nashville since Wednesday and it ended at noon so we swung by to pick him up, go eat lunch and then check into our hotel.

We won't discuss the hotel, except to say it was not satisfactory. It wasn't nasty, just not worth what we paid, compared to our Atlanta hotel. Since we were only staying one night and I was totally beat up from my head cold, I let it slide.

So, I was feeling totally beat after the rehearsal and was craving Nyquil and sleep like some kind of confused crackhead. I couldn't find my way to the Nyquil aisle at Walgreens fast enough and, back at the hotel, I sacrificed brushing my teeth so I could get into bed first and let Gerald deal with the kids.

Again, dawn very bright and extremely early. But, alas, it was not early. It was 10 a.m.! We'd missed the "fabulous, free" breakfast buffet and we all had to get ready including ironing stuff, wrap the gift, pack up all our stuff, eat lunch and be at the church ready for pics at 12:30.

We made it with ten minutes to spare, after having had a really good, sit-down Mexican lunch.

Yeah, we're THAT good.

The wedding was my type of wedding...short and to the point, with a really awesome kiss at the end, to seal the whole deal; it was so short, in fact, Zac had only enough time to complain once--something akin to, " Ugh, I thought you said there was going to be cake!?!"

I was still groggy but feeling better--no more aching. Twenty minute drive to the reception, ate some finger food and YUM-O cake, grabbed a coke, bottle of water, five kids and said our goodbyes.

Friday night, we had given the kids a whirlwind tour of bumpin' Downtown Nashville--eaten at one of our favorites--Spaghetti Factory! While waiting for a table, we'd walked past the famous Wildhorse Saloon while they were doin' a boot-scootin' boogie on the bar, left a few of our bucks at a tourist trap, tried to convince the beggars we had NO CASH (we honestly did not), unsuccessfully dodged smokers lined up outside the bars like birds on a wire (which is interesting b/c Nashville is still a smoking town) and stopped to listen to really good country karaoke outside yet another honky-tonk in Downtown Nashville on a Friday night. I think everyone in that town sings. Did I mention the $12 we had to pay to park?!?

All in all, it was another interesting entry into the kids' childhood memory banks. I'm surprised I remember any of it.

Back in Huntsville, the rest of the week was touch-and-go. One day I went and helped paint classrooms at school, the next day, I was down all day totally exhausted. I didn't even have any desire to Blog. Highly unusual. I had no desire to clean or do laundry either. NOT highly unusual :0)

TODAY, I'm finally feeling totally back to myself and I'm blogging.

I fell off the face of planet earth and found some groggy, Nyquil-induced utopia where there are no kids, dark chocolate grows on trees, white bread doesn't make you fat, dogs don't have bad breath and their matted fur eventually turns into money, young hotties massage your feet, offer you really awesome coffee drinks and don't call you, "Mam".

I'm not sure the phrase, "it's good to be back" would be appropriate. I'll just go with, it's real to be back in reality.

See why it took so long for me to blog?

The kids are leaving tomorrow to stay with Papa and Memaw in Kansas City for two whole weeks. Our fifteenth wedding anniversary falls during this time and we're gonna' try to get out of town between Gerald's meetings and painting bedrooms. If we can't, I'll just go visit Walgreens for more Nyquil and another installment of, "Would You Like A Massage With That Drink?"

Did you hear that?...dirty laundry and closets that need purging are calling my name.

Yep, just keepin' it real.