Spokane Fun and Not-so-fun

It was bound to happen. Covid hit in 2020 and we managed to avoid it for two and a half years. But somewhere-- who knows where?!-- that nasty little bug was lurking and ready to pounce, and Mark was right there (wherever "there" was) when it happened. 

About halfway into our Spokane visit, while we were hanging out with my son and grandson (Josh and Adam), Mark began to complain of not feeling well. He tends to get that way when his allergies ramp up (which happens from time to time when he eats something he shouldn't... which happens from time to time). And I suspected he was just having an especially difficult allergic reaction to something he recently ate. So while we were there, after he enjoyed some time cuddling with Adam, he decided to lie down for a while on Josh's bed and take a nap, after which he got up and we all ate dinner together. The next day, I left him home and drove over to my daughter's to spend the day with her, all the while noticing an annoying but not painful scratchy throat. I had a nice visit with Liz and then went home to fix Mark's dinner. As he was still not feeling too well, I decided to feel his forehead and realized he had a fever. Oh oh. Out came the thermometer, and sure enough he was hot. Next morning so was I. And to make a long story shorter, I spent the better part of the next week in bed. Mark, however, recovered almost completely in a few days.

Was it the dreaded covid? Probably. We never bothered with testing because, well what's the point? Once you're sick, does it really matter what you're sick with? We told the kids and they weren't concerned about it. Josh had already contracted the "omicron" variety (what we suspected we had, after doing a little online research). Adam wasn't affected in the least. And neither was Liz. And we stayed home for the duration until fevers broke and symptoms abated, which is what everyone should do anyway with any illness.

Our three weeks of family visiting was thereby reduced about in half. We had two days with Adam, one in the beginning and one the day before we left. Adam is a delightful little three year old. He warmed up to us right away this visit, which surprised me, as it's been a full year since we saw him last.

Adam playing a game with his auntie

Exploring the napkin holder with dad

I had a few more visits with Liz than Josh, because Josh is working and Liz is recovering from a broken leg. She's coming along beautifully in the healing process, however, and should be back to work in a couple weeks.

I also was able to get in two visits with my youngest brother, Mark, who is slowly recovering from "long covid" and is more or less an invalid at this point in his life. 

All in all, we had good family visits, but as usual, not enough time. We might have stayed longer to make up for the lost sick time if not for the fact that we were all booked into a very expensive campground in Caldwell, Idaho, where we would be visiting my youngest daughter, Katie, and her family. This is the downside to planning. If anything happens to interfere with the plan, making changes is a domino effect and often not even possible because of availability issues at one or more campground venues. So it's less troublesome to stick with the plan and keep going. Next year we'll plan to stay longer.

We arrived in Caldwell last Sunday and have been enjoying our time here. I'll write about that next time. Until then, may God richly bless you and grant you safe travels wherever you go.

Adam

Liz & Josh goofing around

"Smile for the camera!"