January 2022

Ringing in the New Year
We were once again a party of four on NYE, which suited us all just fine — junk food, a movie, homemade confetti, the NYC ball drop (less weird than last year, since there were spectators), etc. Very glad to put 2021 behind us! However, my stomach started feeling not-great that night, and wasn’t any better the next morning. Kept getting worse, and the pain moved to the lower right side; I didn’t have much appetite, and tried to fix it with a heating pad and ibuprofen, which … did not work. The morning of the 2nd, I finally gave in to R’s insistence (and my friend Ami’s wise medical counsel) and went to the ER; he had to drop me there, because covid = no “extra” people in the ER. Luckily, there was almost nobody in the waiting room and I was seen quickly — and yada yada yada, surprise appendectomy! They did it laparoscopically, meaning only three tiny incisions; I was out before 8:00 that night and back home with the fam, able to shuffle along on my own two feet but not much else. Recovery was fast by most people’s standards, but took FOREVER by mine — R. had me posted up on the couch with water and oxy (plus an insane amount of ibuprofen and Tylenol) and wouldn’t let me move, lol. He was an absolute champ at taking care of me and the kids, and friends of mine stepped in for a lot of things (e.g. meals, offers to ferry the kids around, etc.), so we weathered the crisis pretty well, and a week out, I was back to more-or-less normal (except no working out for another week). Happy new year! lol. 

Covid roundup
So many things are — still — covid-related these days; we were thrilled to be able to get Annika her booster shot this month, at least. But on return to school, we found that two of Annika's six teachers, Lukas’s teacher, and friends Raina and Grace were out with covid — and then Owen got it, missing both school and Blade Team for two weeks! This Omicron variant is everywhere, man. The school district sent an email basically giving up — “This is your notice that uhhhhhh everybody has it, so you’re definitely being exposed, we’re not sending out any more close-contact notices, stay home if you’re sick and get a test to clear you before coming back, good luck out there, YES we’re keeping the masks.” 

Close to home
My friend Brandi (mother of Alana, Isla and Ben) found out in late December that she has breast cancer. She had surgery on January 19, and our little community pitched in to help — everything from taking Ben for playdates after school, to setting up a meal-delivery plan for a couple of weeks. My night happened to be the actual Burns Night, so — reminded of that fact by Fiona, and joined by Laura — the three of us put together a Burns Night feast for the family (sausage rolls, Scotch eggs, a wee dram, neeps & tatties, shortbread cookies, a haggis pie, etc.) and the fellas each read a Burns poem with a toast to the room, shared on our phones. It was a nice way to connect, and a hopeful reminder of our plans to get together to celebrate it in person next year. A week or so later, Lukas walked up to Sandy (her mom) at school pick-up and asked her how Brandi was doing, all of his own accord, and it was clear how it touched Sandy that he did it — what a sweet boy!

Many returns
A few things had to be put off because of my appendix — I didn’t have a rager of a birthday, lol. But I did get gifts and sweetness from my little fam, and we ordered Indian food a couple of weeks later when I could finally eat again. The grandparents came by with cake and presents on the 29th, extending the celebration.