I am almost back from a thirty hour bout with the “please kill me” flu. Yesterday morning M called me at work and told me T had a sore throat and wanted to stay home from school. None of my kids abuse the fake illness route (in fact S has never missed a day of school in his life…it’s a weird point of pride for him…he calls it his “record”) and, since he’s old enough to stay home on his own, we agreed he could watch tv or whatever until after my 9AM meeting ended and I could drive home. He and I watched the first Lord of the Rings film and hung out on the couch. Near two or so I started to feel sick. By six I was shivering in the bathtub, the full-on flu rendering me pretty much useless. You know the flu that makes you say, “ok, I have to get up and walk across the room. I think I should walk across the room, but that’s pretty far. Do I really want to walk across the room? Ok, I’m going to work up the energy. Here we go. Straight across the room…now.” That kind of flu. So I cranked the heat in our room, crawled under my sleeping bag (god, I love that sleeping bag) and tried to sleep. I woke at eleven, read some Bryson, and fell asleep again on the couch until six. The night was warm and breezy, so I left the window open and took in the fresh air. This morning I downed two Tylenol. T and I watched “The Two Towers” (sidebar: Fuck, those movies are long) and by noon he wanted to return to school and I felt well enough to accompany N on his pumpkin farm field trip. Todd from next door and I carpooled since adults don’t fit on the bus. The field trip was a success. I’m glad I went, as I had attended both T and S’s kindergarten pumpkin farm field trips as well. Plus I feel badly for the kids who sort of wander around on their own. But the kids had fun, I think, and most of the parents seemed fine.

I’m tired but I think I’ll hit Costco and maybe OfficeMax. Tomorrow I’m breaking my “work at home Wednesday” rule and driving into the office. I need to put in an appearance after a couple days at home. Plus, I’m sick of my living room. More later. Good night.