Sitting Duck

On December 20, Aidan started barfing. Poor little guy. We'd eaten at a Chinese buffet that night, and he was the only one who'd had the sausage, so I sorta figured he had food poisoning. Within 24 hours, he was back to his healthy, happy self.

In the early morning hours of December 24, Darren got hit by it. We were at my parents' house, and Darren spent the next 30 hours quarantined in their bedroom, shivering under layers of blankets except when running to the bathroom to upchuck again. He missed all of Christmas Eve and most of Christmas Day. I started thinking that maybe Aidan's WASN't food poisoning.

Four days later, on December 29, Ian threw up. He was at my Mom's house, 3.5 hours away. "Ian just threw up," she said on the phone. "What are you gonna do about it?" There wasn't much I could do long-distance, so I went and got him the next day.

At this point, I was starting to realize that this was a funky-weird virus with a long incubation period. Aidan's probably wasn't food poisoning at all. It was also at this point, after having cared for three throwing up boys, that I started feeling like a sitting duck.

We cancelled our New Year's Eve party, in case we were still carrying the bug, even though on that day, none of us were barfy. Flash forward to January 3. I was downstairs on the computer at 3 a.m. when I heard it: Dani had become the latest victim. I flew up the stairs and held her long hair out of the way while she blew chunks into the toilet.

Yesterday, I bragged to a friend that my whole family had had the barfs since before Christmas, and that I must've worked up a big-time immunity to it, having taken care of the all, because I was the only one who hadn't gotten it.

Then. This morning, about 3 o'clock (WHY do these things always happen in the middle of the night?), I ate my words. Twice. Today, every time I cough, I can taste those words again. Gross.

So. My weekend plans are officially TRASHED. I am so sad. I was gonna spend the weekend with Jeanne and Ginger down in San Antonio.

But instead, I'll hang out here and bleach the house again.

BLECH!