How I Spent My Labor Day Weekend by Lori

65MD had a milestone birthday over the weekend.  In spite of our best efforts to get his peeps to travel to us, we had to travel to them.  We decided to leave mid afternoon on Friday to get ahead of the holiday travel.  Apparently so did everyone else in middle Tennessee.  We stopped to get Son (S) on the way since he is only about 20 minutes from us on a good day.  On Friday, it was an hour.  He had a root canal earlier in the day so it was fine to take a full hour to get him to make sure he got to there safely.

Once we got well out of town the traffic eased and we were able to enjoy the drive a bit more.  About an hour from our destination, we decided to stop for supper.  It was around 6:00 on Friday night.  We were prepared for a wait and pleasantly surprised to get seated rather quickly.  We went to a sit down restaurant because I wanted a steak & salad.  65MD and S were happy to have steak too.  An hour and a half later we ate.  It was a fine meal, but not fabulous and certainly not worth that sort of wait.  The place was not full, nor did we get an apology.  Only some sort of song & dance from the server about a large party not showing up.  I'm still not sure what bearing that has on a long wait for food.  I got the full import of why we should leave her a larger tip though.

The fun really began when we got back in the car.  I am on several medications to keep my hip pain in check.  Some which are to be taken with food.  We got settled in and headed back down the road and I began searching for my small bag with all of my toiletry items.  This bag, not only included my medication but also held my other essentials like toothbrush, deodorant, hairbrush, make up, etc.  The bag was not there.  It was on the bed at home.

65MD is the master car packer.  He gets great joy out of organizing the trunk and/or back seat in the most efficient fashion.  He's quite good at it.  So good, in fact, that all I do is pack and leave my luggage on the bed.  He packs the car.  I get in and we go.  I never give a thought to asking him if he got everything off of the bed.  He always does.  We aren't sure how he missed the black bad of toiletry items, but he did.  

Of course, I panicked about my medicine and make up.  Saline?  No problem, I'd sleep in my contacts.  Deodorant? I'd use 65MD's.  Who cares if I smell like a man?  But seeing his family in pain and with a blank face?  Ain't happening!!!

S had some supersonic pain meds from the root canal that he very generously offered.  I was a little hesitant.  He's a big boy.  Even though, I'm bigger that I need to be, his dosage would be much higher than my requirements.  65MD knew of a dollar store very close to our final destination and said we'd stop and get everything I needed.  So, I calmed down.  Still, every time I moved, I wondered if that was a flinch of pain from my hip.  Would I be able to walk into the store once we got there?

Then we hit another slow down.  There had been an accident so tragic, it made the local news.  S pulled out his trusty smart phone and found us an alternate route.  However, this was a dark and lonely route.  I was glad we had plenty of gas.  We even happened upon a local market, where I could get my essentials.  Only it was dark, so dark and there were dogs around.  It seemed to me like a good opening to a Stephen King novel.  But I needed make up and a hair brush.  We went inside.

I got some Wet & Wild type make up items, a hair brush, toothbrush, and Tylenol with no incident.  I took three Tylenol immediately.  We made it to 65MD's daughter's house and learned the reason for the last slow down.  We did the right thing by getting off the interstate.  It was shut down for life flight and made my fear of the dark and scary road seem silly.

Still the Tylenol did nothing for the pain and S renewed his offer to share his pain meds.  I took half a tablet and went to bed.  I slept through breakfast.  65MD woke me up in time to apply my new cosmetics before time to depart for the party.  Who knew these off brand eye liners were so great?!?!  I took the other half of the pain pill and off we went to celebrate 65MD's special day.

It was wonderful.  I can't remember a better time with his peeps.  I happily led everyone in a rousing chorus of "Happy Birthday."  I could barely contain my delight as I changed the words to;  "happy birthday to you, you live in a zoo..."  Total hilarity.  All too soon, it was time to leave and head back to D's house.  No worries, though.  We had a football game to watch.  Another half tablet and then off to bed.

Sunday morning, we got up for church and I had the second half of the Saturday night pill. (Believe it or not, I stayed awake through church!)    But, as we were getting ready for church 65MD kept making frequent trips to the bathroom.  He finally admitted that his stomach was upset.  S then said he'd been up in the night with similar problems.  They decided it must have been something they ate, and we went to church.  Neither one of them looked particularly ill, but I was still in a fog.

After church we stopped for a quick lunch and hit the road home.  If there were issues on the ride, I have no idea.  I slept most of the way home.  When we got home, my little black bag of toiletries was right where I left it.  In spite of having such a joyous time at the birthday party, I was glad to get back to my regular medications.

Yesterday, I woke up feeling quite rotten.  My head wasn't right, nor was my tummy.  I decided that it was a medication hang over and I'd be feeling better in a few hours.  I was wrong.  As the day progressed, I felt worse and worse.  Then I began to have bathroom issues.

65MD still wasn't over what had started with him on Sunday morning, yet he began to carry on about how he would sleep in the recliner because he didn't want to catch what I had.  I gave him a look that I thought said "Really?" but he interpreted as "Shut up or die!"  Then he remembered that he'd been sick first and perhaps, just perhaps we could sleep in the same room and maybe even the same bed. Or he could sleep on the porch.  He could decide.  I was staying in the bed.

We made it through the night.  Neither one of us is back to 100% but we are both on the mend.  And this is one Labor Day weekend, we'll remember for years to come.