Humbled, decimated....
Today is my pregnant wife's (Marla's) 35th birthday. To celebrate, we established rather grandiose plans for this past weekend. Notwithstanding her chronic "morning sickness" (more like "all day long sickness") despite now being in her fourth month of pregnancy, our respective mothers came into town on thursday night so that we could: 1) go to the circus on saturday at 11:30 am with our 2 1/2 year-old son Adrien (notwithstanding PETA protests -- hey, the tickets were free); 2) go to one of the most exclusive restaurants in Chicago, the Everest at 6:00 pm; and then 3) see a world premiere stage performance of George Orwell's 1984. On top of all of that, I was to meet up with old friend and Big Takeover editor Jack Rabid at the airport at 9:00 am before his return trip to NYC, and I also had designs on going to see old school Chicago punks The Effigies play a late 11:30pm show at the Bottom Lounge.
We/I did none of the above.
Beginning at about 2:00 am on Saturday morning, Marla began throwing up incessantly. By 7:30 am, she had already thrown up a dozen times. To make matters worse, my persistent stuffiness/sore throat suddenly transformed into a feeling of achiness, soreness, fever, horrific sore throat and stomach upset. I took Marla to the hospital, barely even able to concentrate on driving myself. Ultimately, to make a nightmare short, they had to admit Marla overnight in order to stabilize her vomiting and prevent her dehydration. They didn't release her until 6:30 pm on Sunday. They diagnosed me with "viral pharyngitis" and gave me amoxycilin, but I'll tell you that three days later I feel no better and my throat has never hurt worse.
But where would we have been without the moms, in town from our native Detroit to visit us and see their grandson? Not only did they keep the wily Adrien at bay and otherwise amused and entertained, but they turned our house upside down in a fit of cleaning, washing and organization. It is easy to take loved ones for granted, but without them a hellacious weekend would have been borderline unmanageable, at least for Adrien's sake. Sure we have friends and neighbors who were ridiculously kind to rally behind me/us to help out in any way, but the moms went so far above the call of duty to additionally help Marla and I get better. We're humbled, we're blessed. As a further bonus, and real source of inspiration for Marla as she labored in hospital rooms with an iv tube stuck inside her arm, she got to see the baby via ultrasound and everything looks and sounds great. She says the baby looked like "it" was drinking a beer, continuously raising its hand to mouth. Chip off the old block.
The side note to the grandiose plans was the following. Reading about the PETA protests and facts regarding the treatment of circus animals, I'm glad we didn't go. Then, when I called Everest in my feverish state to cancel our reservations, the host claimed he didn't see a reservation under our name. On top of that (on top of Everest, you say?), Saturday night was the annual lighting of the holiday lights along the "Magnificent Mile" along Michigan Avenue, for which "hundreds of thousands of people" attended. Nice, but we would have had to go from the southern-most part of Chicago's loop at a 6 pm "non"-dinner to 800 N. Michigan Avenue for an 8:00 pm play amidst the hordes of consumerism? Okay, the best laid plans weren't very good at all in the first place, were they?
Finally, I have to thank friend and one of my favorite current musical artists, Matthew Good (www.matthewgood.org) for redesigning this blog for me and otherwise encouraging me and offering me technical and other tips. Again, I'm humbled. I recommend visiting his site strongly, as it features numerous links, critiques and geo/sociopolitical observations so compelling and informative in this day and age. Big thanks also to pal Martha for helping to keep me in line/true to the intent of this blog with her thoughtful comments and insights.
We/I did none of the above.
Beginning at about 2:00 am on Saturday morning, Marla began throwing up incessantly. By 7:30 am, she had already thrown up a dozen times. To make matters worse, my persistent stuffiness/sore throat suddenly transformed into a feeling of achiness, soreness, fever, horrific sore throat and stomach upset. I took Marla to the hospital, barely even able to concentrate on driving myself. Ultimately, to make a nightmare short, they had to admit Marla overnight in order to stabilize her vomiting and prevent her dehydration. They didn't release her until 6:30 pm on Sunday. They diagnosed me with "viral pharyngitis" and gave me amoxycilin, but I'll tell you that three days later I feel no better and my throat has never hurt worse.
But where would we have been without the moms, in town from our native Detroit to visit us and see their grandson? Not only did they keep the wily Adrien at bay and otherwise amused and entertained, but they turned our house upside down in a fit of cleaning, washing and organization. It is easy to take loved ones for granted, but without them a hellacious weekend would have been borderline unmanageable, at least for Adrien's sake. Sure we have friends and neighbors who were ridiculously kind to rally behind me/us to help out in any way, but the moms went so far above the call of duty to additionally help Marla and I get better. We're humbled, we're blessed. As a further bonus, and real source of inspiration for Marla as she labored in hospital rooms with an iv tube stuck inside her arm, she got to see the baby via ultrasound and everything looks and sounds great. She says the baby looked like "it" was drinking a beer, continuously raising its hand to mouth. Chip off the old block.
The side note to the grandiose plans was the following. Reading about the PETA protests and facts regarding the treatment of circus animals, I'm glad we didn't go. Then, when I called Everest in my feverish state to cancel our reservations, the host claimed he didn't see a reservation under our name. On top of that (on top of Everest, you say?), Saturday night was the annual lighting of the holiday lights along the "Magnificent Mile" along Michigan Avenue, for which "hundreds of thousands of people" attended. Nice, but we would have had to go from the southern-most part of Chicago's loop at a 6 pm "non"-dinner to 800 N. Michigan Avenue for an 8:00 pm play amidst the hordes of consumerism? Okay, the best laid plans weren't very good at all in the first place, were they?
Finally, I have to thank friend and one of my favorite current musical artists, Matthew Good (www.matthewgood.org) for redesigning this blog for me and otherwise encouraging me and offering me technical and other tips. Again, I'm humbled. I recommend visiting his site strongly, as it features numerous links, critiques and geo/sociopolitical observations so compelling and informative in this day and age. Big thanks also to pal Martha for helping to keep me in line/true to the intent of this blog with her thoughtful comments and insights.
posted by Paul V. Regelbrugge at 8:33 AM
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