Back to work today....

after having two bowls of my Momma, Myra Lee's, homemade with love, beans and ham soup yesterday.

Ironic?

Nope, I just finally got what I needed...a little hair of the "dog" that bit me.

now swine flu free

"I am bringing Phillip into your....

examining room because you both have tested positive for influenza and the doctor might as well see you at the same time." the nurse said as she led Phillip into my room last Friday.

Dr. Kruse came in and informed us "You both have the H1N1 virus - swine flu."

Fever;

Headache;

Sore Throat;

Cough; and

An overall feeling of having been hit by a truck.

Yup, those are all of our symptoms.

Somewhere along our path of flying to Arizona, being in Arizona or flying back home to Chicago we became infected with the virus.

And it hasn't been fun.

Although it has given some loving, caring, creative friends and family the opportunity to compassionately inundate us with pig jokes, phone calls involving oinking noises and emailed remedies of rolling around in cool mud to lower our temps!

in cheering us up attempts

Unfortunately....

it appears that Phillip and I brought something home with us from Scottsdale and it isn't a welcome visitor!

Since Tuesday night we have been fevering, coughing and having sore throats. He has it much worse than me, so tomorrow, health insurance or not (not), he will be going to the doc.

I, hopefully, will be back to work tomorrow.

scottsdale virus sorrow

“I like your sssparkly toes!”

The young blonde girl said as she zoomed past me at the conference.

“Thank you!” I yelled to the back of her as she continued on.

Later I had a chance to meet and bond with Olivia, who told me that she is 9 years old, stutters and was there with her dad.

“Do you stutter?” she asked.

“No, my son does.” I replied.

“How old is he?” Olivia continued.

“21.” I said.

Twenty-one and this was Phillip's first conference, unlike Olivia, who at 9 has attended for several years, which left me wishing that I knew such an organization existed when he was younger.


Being introduced to the National Stuttering Association at an early age, will hopefully buffer Olivia from the devastating anxiety, shame, fear, solitude and depression that so many stutterers have within them.

Did you know that there are over 2 million adult stutterers in the U.S. alone?

I sure didn’t.

So with only 600 people, encompassing the stutterers and their families/support people, attending this year’s conference...that says that we MUST get the “word out”.

lets shout

“Are you retarded?”

“Nnnnnooo, I sssstttutter!” Landon said to the ignorant bar patron seated next to him.

“I thought they cured that in the 1930’s?” was the guy's reply.

To which Landon graciously responded.....

“I ddddon’t have PPPPPolio, you FFFFF*#KHEAD!”

enough said

PJ and I sat in the lobby of the The Westin Kierland Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona yesterday, saying our goodbyes to all the wonderful people we met at the National Stuttering Association’s (NSA) Conference, one of those we said goodbye to was Landon.


A Louisiana boy thru and thru, he is filled with stuttering life experiences and had no problem sharing them with us. He and his girlfriend, Lizzy appeared in our lives on the first day of the conference and we are now forever bonded.

Landon stutters...openly and often.

Oh, and he swears...a lot.

So, Landon, Lizzy, Janice, from upstate New York and her daughter, Joanna, along with a lenghty list of others, helped shape Phillip’s and my first NSA conference into the life changing experience that it was.

Neither of us will ever be the same.

So emotionally draining for me, that by the time it ended and those goodbye's were being said....I mostly just wept and everyone involved knew why I was crying and that is all that mattered.

back home informed changed and emotionally tattered

“In a fight who do you think would win….

Chips Ahoy or Oreo’s?” he asked me last night as I was walking back from the bathroom to my table at Paulie’s Pub & Grille.

I was there with two of my comrade-in-arms' girlfriends, a middle of the week dinner, a gathering, to catch up, to discuss our lives as divorcees, our kids, our careers, etc.

As you can imagine, the conversation was non-stop, so I was unaware of any other customers in the place (although I will admit the two business guys that got out of the Maserati in the parking lot, might of caught my eye, but that had more to do with the car than them.)

“Oreo’s.” I replied.

“Double-stuff or regular?” he furthered with.

I said “Double-stuff. Why do you want to know?”

"You are wearing a Cookie Monster shirt.” he said while pointing at my chest.

Younger than Keith and obviously not very savvy with his pick up lines, I told him to take care and I walked back to my table....chuckling as I thought "I was watching Sesame Street years before you were even born!"

next time I go cookie monster unadorn

In the midst of a creative dry spell.....

I give you this......


a poppy from my Momma's backyard in all of it's fiery orange and pinky-red glory.

sometime soon maybe a real story