Strep Throat

I'm a huge believer that
life is what happens when you are busy planning life.

Isn't it always that way?

You're planning on arriving early to finalize details for your work presentation, and you get a flat tire
 or
It's the first day of vacation and you receive word that the flight has been cancelled.
or
While your hubby is away on a work retreat and you've schemed a two-day, non-stop party for you and your boys, only to get strep throat!



Oh wait, that last one is me.

Yep! Strep throat!

For those of you who have had the great fortune of avoiding this monster, go buy a lotto ticket. You are one lucky soul!

But if you know what I'm talking about... if you've experienced a furnace taking over your inner neck, while burning coals threaten to cut off the air supply of your esophagus, all the while experiencing the acute fear that accidentally gulping one of those liquid balls of fire straight down the hatch may lead to your death, then I'm welcoming you to the Strep Throat Survivors Club.

 I'd rather birth twins at home than ever have strep again!

It's not the fever, or swallowing glass, or the fact that my lymph nodes grew to the size of grapefruits {minor exaggeration}, it's that
I had grand plans with Ty and Tanner.

We were going to live on mac-n-cheese and cookie dough, void all naps, and snuggle in our makeshift fort for hours.
A fort made of Red Vine Licorice, goose down pillows, and five trillion blankets stacked to the ceiling to give Princess and the Pea a run for her money!



We were going to out-hop frogs, saddle unicorns, bike down Main Street in our jammies, and build skyrise sandcastles.





You see, I had plans before strep.

But life happens.

And here I was, in a position to be on the receiving end of needing others, of relying on community in a desperate way.

With Bryan gone, I knew I couldn't manage, nor would survive one moment without help, so I called my brother.

He walked in and gaped, circling my lifeless form on the couch, eyeing me, the way you look at something that you think you ran over...

You look like death!, he frowned.

I didn't have the strength to fight him, to tell him I'd been up all night, prepping myself to beauty perfection for the Legally Blonde 3 auditions.

No. It was true. I looked like death!

He kicked into rockstar brother overdrive.

Pouring our oldest a bowl of cereal.
Monitoring Tanner as he dressed for preschool, and brushed his teeth.


Changing Ty's diaper.
Plopping them in the car, and driving them across town to Lil Lighthouse Pre-School.
Back home, scrambling Ty some eggs.
Filling his sippy.
Dressing him for the day.
Driving us to the Urgent Care.
Calling my worried husband with an update.


All the while, I'm fighting the fiery throat furnace and swallowing glass.

I sit in the clean, ideal people-watching waiting room. By this time, I'm convinced I am roadkill.

Ty gets a dirty diaper, and before I know it, Drew's whisking him to the car, and Ty comes back smelling freshly bathed and has learned Spanish in the last five minutes. No doubt, from my brother.
Off, the pair dash, in search of a smoothie to calm the liquid balls threatening to dive down my esophagus.

Finally, I'm sitting on the crunchy paper of the examining chair {what is that stuff made out of, anyway?}The doctor peers down my gullet and literally jumps back in horror.

Strep!

I stare vacantly at her. The situation is almost comedic by this point.
Just give me the drugs lady, and a hammock to die in.

Prescription in hand, and time running short to pick up Tanner, Drew drops Ty and I off at home for naps, and ventures, once again, to Lil Lighthouse.
Apparently, while waiting for my much-anticipated Amoxicillin order to be filled, they enjoyed the bounty of CVS ice cream.

Over the next few hours, I wake on and off, drenched in a feverish sweat, to the sound of giggles and laughter belonging to my sons and their uncle.

And a peaceful calm envelops my soul.

Down the hall, is someone who loves me, my boys, my husband, our family, enough to sacrifice his day off, and be there for us.
Furthermore, it represents my sister-in-law, Jen, who graciously shared her husband this day, even though it means sacrificing their family time, with sweet baby Reese.

And here lies the irony of life:

For as much as we plan for it, it still comes.

This day, is a humbling opportunity to practice what I preach. Sure, I love to be there for others, but it goes both ways. I also want to be quick to ask for help when needed.

There is something so beautiful and pure about being there for one another, especially when it comes full circle. It's not you owe me, 
then I owe you, 
it's we all help each other out, and we all win.

Although, I don't know if Drew won that day... he saw way too many toddler and mini-man poops!

As the front door closed behind my brother heading home from a long day, Bryan pulled in the driveway from his retreat.

Again, there was a flurry of happy shrieks from the boys, while the rest of the day my hubby kicked into rockstar dad, freeing me up to rest, to fight the coals and glass, and gain back my sass.

There will be ample opportunities to out-hop frogs, saddle unicorns, bike down Main Street in our jammies, and build skyrise sandcastles.

Today, is a day to receive love.

Thank you, family, from the bottom of my toes, for being there for me.