Week-end at the House of Pestilence

It's been a strange week-end here, very different from what we expected.  My sister and nephew were supposed to visit from Thursday night until Monday morning.  But on Thursday, my sister called to say that they had snow above the tires of the cars (they live in Maryland), with another foot expected.  And so, she rescheduled for late March.

We've all been disappointed, but I've been less disappointed than I expected to be.  My spouse is sick with something that resembles flu.  We never get flu down here, at least not in our house.  But Friday night, he felt so hot that I dug out a thermometer, just to make sure he wasn't at risk.

We only have a thermometer because a decade ago, my spouse had reconstructive surgery on a finger that had had an ugly encounter with a table saw.  The doctor told us we needed to monitor his temperature, which would serve as an early warning if infection set in.  Happily, he never had a fever, and the thermometer has been gathering dust--until Friday night.

Sure enough, my spouse has a fever in the 102 range.  I tried to remember what I know about fevers and at what point they're dangerous.  I remember nothing.  But if his fever starts to spike, we'll have him soak in our backyard pool, which is quite chilly these days.  It won't be pleasant, but it will likely do the trick. 

In the meantime, he's taking fluids and aspirin.  And I'm having a pleasant week-end, nesting at home.  I've roasted chicken and made chicken and dumplings.  I've done laundry.  I've worked on writing projects and my online classes.

I won't go to church this morning.  I had told people I wouldn't be coming because my sister and nephew would be here.  And now, even though they're not, I don't want to expose people to whatever my spouse has.  Is he contagious?  Am I a carrier?  I don't know.

Tomorrow, while the rest of the nation celebrates President's Day, I'll be at work.  We celebrate on Friday.  Our classes meet once a week, and for years, Monday classes got seriously short-changed in Winter quarter.  Now that problem has been fixed, but we're out of sync with the nation.  I'll take a 3 day week-end whenever I can get one, although I do prefer having Mondays off instead of Fridays.

Today will be another day of laying low at the house.  I'll make a pot roast.  I'll keep working on writing projects.  Let me record an idea, in case it slips away from me.

As I've come back from Mepkin Abbey each year, I've written "What the monks can teach us about __________."  I've filled in the blanks with a lot of words:  creativity, worship, food.  I wondered if I had enough for a book.  I put every blog post that was remotely related into a document.  I don't think there's enough for a book.

Yesterday at spin class, I thought, hey, I have a similar series of posts with spin class and exercise.  Maybe I could create a book with sections.  But I'd need one more section.

This morning, I remembered that I think I've done something similar when I've spent time with my little nephew, as he's passed through toddlerhood and the following years. 

Maybe I'll spend some time this afternoon collecting those essays.