Things Fall Apart

Things fell apart this past weekend, or at least our plans fell apart.  Flu and colds got in the way.  

We were heading down to Washington to take in a number of events:  Leonor's swearing-in as a U.S. citizen,  Margaret and Andrew's baby shower and to meet up Annie who was also coming in for the shower.  
The good news is that Leonor passed her citizenship test, but instead of waiting a couple of days for the swearing in, the immigration officers told her she had to be sworn in that very day.  Joe and Thomas made it over for the ceremony.  We were still in Pittsfield, so we missed it, and will still have to wait to go to our first citizenship ceremony.  Joe took a video, and not surprisingly, it was moving with 25 people from 13 different countries getting sworn in.  Guess which song was played?  "Proud to be an American."

Then, on our way down the next day, we got a call from Margaret saying that Andrew was at urgent care and had the flu. And, yes, he had had the flu shot.  She said she wasn't feeling too hot either. Since we were supposed to be staying with them, we quickly made other arrangements, staying one night at the Dacor Bacon house (a Foreign Service club of sorts) and then over to Mary's friend Gerry's house for a couple of nights.
Then, Leonor got sick, with an earache and a cold.  Margaret's symptoms turned out to be a cold.  Meanwhile, we were heavily investing in Airborne and Zicam.  Joe had to cancel Leonor's celebratory "Proud to be an American" cocktail event at Ebbet's Grill.

Could it get worse?  Yes, Jeff and Melodie got sick, though I think Jeffrey worse.  That cemented the decision by Johanna and Cameron to take a pass on joining us for Margaret's shower.  They were going to stay with Jeff and Melodie.

Was that the end of the thwarted plans?  Almost.  How would you like to be sitting next to someone on a plane who is looking for the vomit bag?  Annie took the red eye in from the west coast, and felt faint and nauseous after a couple of hours.  She informed the stewardess (I think there's a new name for them) that she wasn't feeling well, and, oh by the way, she had stopped in Wuhan, China on her way home from Japan two weeks earlier.  The stewardess confidently assured her it was probably just a lack of food and water, and replenished Annie who fell back asleep and woke up fine by the time she landed.

So, did it spoil our plans?  Absolutely not.  We adjusted, enjoyed our time babysitting with Thomas (Air and Space Museum and Zoo, as well as Peruvian chicken) and enjoyed our time hanging out with everyone.  Margaret and Andrew rallied for the shower, for which Andrew's mother and father and a nice set of local friends attended.  Melodie came to the shower, but she couldn't wake up Jeff whose cold let him in full recovery mode: asleep on the couch.  Which begs the question - Melodie why aren't you in the photo? Also not in the photo was Kathleen who decided to take the risk of attending, but she was staying with friends elsewhere.

We all congregated for a nice brunch on Sunday before we made the long drive home.  The good news is that Airborne and Zicam work.

By the time we got home, Lenor and Thomas were back in Brasilia, Annie was on her way to Oakland, Joe was in Virginia for a week worth of security training following the shower, complete with defensive driving, fire drills, scary videos and dire scenarios.  Margaret and Andrew were fast asleep, the adrenaline having departed.  

Still fun to see everyone, even if plans go awry.

Love from up here.  Happy February!  What will the groundhog say?