The Last Leg...We Made It

By the skin of our teeth we made it home.

{a timed shot...positioning the camera on the hood of the car apparently makes for an angled result}

Not that the driving was horrific, nor the weather, nor the traffic. All that was actually drastic in contrast to our drive south two weeks ago.

{who in their right mind would ever leave this? oh right, people with jobs}

No, this time it was the little people. They make life very very interesting, don't they!?

The day started at 8:30am as we departed Palm Desert and left the Target parking lot one last time. (Sniff Sniff.) An hour in, the coughing started. It was chesty coughing to begin with. Soon thereafter it was a deep gurgled cough followed by vomit.

Lovely.

Ironically (or mercifully) our often not-super-dependable borrowed Tom Tom (okay, that's not fair..."she" and I had a love-hate relationship) told us to take an off-ramp which we shouldn't actually have taken. At that exact moment one small four year old, (while still insisting he did not need a bag) was chucking all over himself and his seatbelt. (Yes, the car seat caught some of the mess, too - because I know you were wondering).

Ah, and all this with only 23 hours left in the car together.

We pulled into a parking lot, stripped the small child down and then re-clothed him. Grabbed a few plastic shopping bags (the one time I'm okay with harming the environment with the use of plastic) and headed off.

An hour or so later the deep coughing recommenced. We had a bag already positioned nicely under his chin but Ben turned around to ensure the aim was bang on.

"Do you want me to pull off as soon as I can?" I asked. (The I-5 is a tad busy as you approach LA at the tail of rush hour on a Friday, ah hem.)

"Drive baby. Just drive," he replied.

(Insert the absolute need to laugh hard and out loud - both of us. We were in one of those well-what-can-you-do-?! situations and trying to make the best of it.)

Music to my ears. All we wanted to do at this point was get the heck outta Dodge and back into a country, our country, where medical care would be readily available and moreover...free.

Did I mention the other little person had not been himself since the moment his eyes opened that morning? "I feel pale Mama," were the first words out of his mouth. We were hoping nothing else would come up and out of his mouth to confirm that statement.

Long story (very long story) short, we drove until 4am...found a hotel and were checked into our room by 4:30am. We joked that we should have asked if they would charge out by the hour. A slight jaunt down the road and we could have, I am certain, found a seedy Roach Motel and lived out this bit of humour.

I digress.

By 5:00am I was finally asleep. At 6:30am after a whopping hour and a half one small five year old started ranting, nonsense talking, and singing in his sleep. Then, he rolled out of bed. Then, he couldn't walk straight or focus his eyes. Then, he couldn't answer all of our questions coherently. Then, we felt his flushed face and he was burning up.

Concern rose and we gave him tylenol.

Another long story short, we were on the road by 8:30am after a sad excuse for a breakfast and a quick stop to purchase some Pedialyte (about which we will forever rant and rave and for which we will forever be grateful). I have never given it a second look at the store but am now a fan.

We made it home after several hours of more driving, an uneventful border crossing (we had another female border guard which is, in itself often cause for concern), and an uneventful ferry crossing.

{just goofin' around...noah actually really enjoyed using his and we were able to deflate it to a perfect size}

I have never slept so well in my own bed.

And today it was a tad chilly for my liking.

But the sun shone.

And we're home. And we're feeling much better. All of us.

And for that we are so very thankful.