The Plague And I

Ah, Expletive Deleted!!! The phone rang at 1:00 PM today. Meredith had 101.3 temperature. Come get her from school.

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Both of our kids have immune systems that could win prizes. I think it's the orphanage where they began their life. Many older kids who came out of the girls' orphanages tell stories of children dying regularly. Back in the day, these orphanages had hundreds of kids. It is what it is. But the kids just never get sick. Honestly, they're in the 3rd and 6th grade, and I can count the TOTAL sick days on my fingers.

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Meredith is lying on the sofa, telling jokes (What happens if two green peas get into a fight? They turn into Black-eyed peas!!!), laughing, singing, screaming "LOOK MOM! MY TEMPERATURE WENT DOWN TO 100 DEGREES!" Nothing hurts. No coughing. Nothing. No sore throat. Nothing. Eating like a horse.

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Everybody else feels fine. I confess that I have been a big chicken for the past few months. I'll grab the kids around their waist, hug them from behind or pull them to me, and plant a kiss on their hair. Then I immediately douse myself in sanitzer, making myself so germ free that I could perform an operation with my BARE HANDS.

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We all feel fine, but naturally, NATURALLY. NATURALLY. TOMORROW.

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Tomorrow is the Homecoming Brunch for alumni of the Honors College at USC. We look forward to it all year. I've been working on a course to teach for the Honors Program--either "The Life Of A Real Lawyer" or "Basic Law." The Dean told me that both sounded like great ideas and he wanted me to start working on it. They already have a course entitled something like "The Life Of A Real Doctor." But USC just laid off all their adjuncts anyway. (shrug).

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And tomorrow night is the Halloween party we look forward to every year.

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Ah, Expletive Deleted!!! Meredith will probably be fine by this time tomorrow, but we can't go out in good conscience and expose her. And I don't want to leave her.

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Shoot.

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Edited to add: the words "school dance" just floated across the family room (where Madeleine is chatting to a friend on the phone) to the dining room-cum-computer-office where I'm pounding out this blog entry. I just screamed "WHAT DANCE?" and Madeleine informed me that she will be attending her first dance soon. Well, that will be interesting. Soon, Madeleine will have topped my record of attending dances while in K-12. Which is--ZERO!!

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BREAKING NEWS UPDATE SATURDAY AT 6:00 PM!!!!! I found three old thermostats that Mom used on us back in the day. Two oral, one rectal. My did that bring back some fond memories, NOT.

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So I sterilized one of the oral ones and did the old shake shake motion, feeling like a REAL MOM. Temperature today: 98.6. Meanwhile, Roger was at Walmart buying a new digital. The digital readout: 97.3. Meanwhile, Meredith has been jumping, eating, giggling, watching TV, playing computer games, and riding her bicycle up and down the street.

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The agonizing suffering that child endured!!! Really, I should put up a Paypal button for all the Tequila Sunrises I need to recover from her illness. "Mom, I feel GREAT. Can I have Nick over to play? Please?" Lather, rinse and repeat.