I don’t get sick that often. When I do, it’s usually in no place of consequence. Say…Siena, Italy. Or Santorini, Greece. This time, I got a firm beat-down at home of all places. How boring of me. Just after midnight last Wednesday night (or early Thursday morning), I woke up really cold. And shortly thereafter, I started shivering uncontrollably. Tam piled on every blanket that she could find on me, with some doubled up, and I was still a freezing mess. There was enough bedding to crush a small dog and smother a gorilla. Awesome.

And then the nausea arrived. After about an hour or so of battling some misplaced sense of pride of trying to hold it together, I stumbled over to the can and really let loose. Four times, I think. Apparently it was loud. And violent. And I felt like I twisted a kidney. I almost lost my glasses into the toilet I was having so much fun. I’m just glad I have my major organs intact and that I still have my bones left.

I then proceeded to spend the next two days laid out in bed in various states of consciousness. I started to feel better yesterday morning when my appetite returned. I still can’t figure out how I didn’t lose any weight through this, so I’ll blame the scale.

Great. So good times. High fives all around. Jeff is back on his feet. And then this afternoon I got the news I was dreading: Xander was running a fever and puking all over the place. I was hoping that both him and Tam dodged the bullet but I couldn’t be that lucky. The poor guy had a real rough afternoon and early evening but seems to be a bit more comfortable now. Unfortunately for my mom, she just flew back from Taiwan this evening so she’s now got a front row seat to this mess.

Wish us well — hopefully the flu’s Shih Family Tour stops with Xander. Let’s keep those fingers crossed.