'Roids to the Rescue

Imagine this.

The one weekend Kevin has been working toward all year: the relaunch of the site he was hired to revamp last January.  But he has to work from home because his office is moving to a new location this very weekend and no staff can be in the office until Tuesday.

Meanwhile, I'm down with Strep throat.  Again.  The plan was for me to keep the kids away, far away from the apartment while he did what he needed to do.  Keep the place quiet.  But I cannot swallow.  Or speak.  And sometimes even breathing is hard.

And guess what?  The kids have just started their 9 day "mid-winter" vacation from school!  Lord help me if this is only midway through winter.

So there are no pictures this weekend.  No photo of the kids watching endless movies on the iPad.  No photos of me dragging myself out of bed (without a shower) yesterday and over to the East Side so that we could engage in the least exerting activity possible: watching the new Lego Movie.  Luckily, the Dolby Surround Sound is so loud no one heard me snoring.  No joke.  And there is no photo of us emerging from the theater to the windiest snowstorm any of us have ever been in.  Literally, the snow was completely horizontal.  Elderly people were being blown over.  I got home and crawled into bed and stayed for a full 24 hours, minus the 45 minutes on Sunday morning where I went to the Urgent Care 3 blocks down and got some steroids so that I could at least swallow.

The steroids haven't kicked in yet but every once in a while I hear Kevin using words he probably shouldn't be using in front of our kids, obviously having troubles with his website, and so I invite the kids into my bed to watch a movie on the laptop, all the while hoping I'm not breathing tiny virus molecules into their little faces.

Luckily in New York City you can have anything delivered to your door.  Anything.  Pizzas, something from the Halal truck on the corner, smoothies, booze.  Hey, are you craving a kosher steak?  It'll be there in 30 minutes.  So we don't need to leave our enclave.  Burgers from Fred's are on their way.

And fortunately I must have had some subconscious premonition and fortuitously signed the kids up for a field trip tomorrow with Science Teacher Sarah.  As long as the steroids have done their magic and I can get them to the West Village by 9am, they'll be gone all day to the Tenafly Nature Center in New Jersey where they'll discover the magic of Maple sugar.  Here's Sarah's spiel, "Where do Maple trees grow?  Who discovered this delicious sap and how?  How has technology changed the course of gathering sap?  We'll attempt to answer these questions as we explore the science from the beginning to the end of this exciting process.  It's time to check tapped Maple trees, learn how to boil down sap, and enjoy the warm, sweet flavor of Maple syrup.  Pancakes beware!  I can't wait to taste this most delicious field trip!"  So you can see why the kids love Science Teacher Sarah.

Kevin and I will have a day of quiet in the apartment.  Let's just hope the kids don't get stuck in New Jersey in a big snowstorm.

[Note: This blog post was originally written and posted yesterday but I took it down after an hour.  I realized that I probably shouldn't post the exact whereabouts of the kids ahead of time.  You know, cyber stalkers and all.  Not that I spend any time at all thinking about internet security.  I know that on any given day my kids are thousands of times more likely to get hit by a car than abducted by a stranger.  But even the tiniest possibility with a consequence too horrible to imagine gives me pause for thought.  On a brighter note, the steroids did wonders and although I still have a plain old sore throat, it's nowhere near as bad as yesterday.  So I got the kids to science class in plenty of time and they had a fabulous day learning more than any of us ever wanted to know about Maple sap.  They just love classes with her.  And they got fresh pancakes for snack with really fresh Maple syrup on top.  Sarah will send photos in a few days which I'll post here.  The bad news is that Kevin's throat is now hurting... Worst. Possible. Timing.]