Amazing

I would say that pretty much sums up the week. First let me say that it's amazing to believe it's mid-December since it was 72 degrees here today. I actually saw two things this afternoon that I still find difficult to even imagine on my return from the art supply store.

I passed a guy spreading mulch in his flower beds...shirtless! He was pouring sweat! Of course I had the windows of the van down at the time dreaming of a 1967 Corvette convertible parked in our driveway on Christmas morning. Just a few blocks later I got a glimpse of three teenage neighbor gals. One of them resides in The House that Christmas Vomited. I'm sure you have one of 'em near you. Candy Cane fence around the yard, icicle lights, inflatable Santa in the front yard, nativity scene in the side yard (they have corner lot), reindeer on the roof? I'd say they have Christmas covered. Anyway seeing the three young ladies sunbathing in bikinis made me think of something only Stanley Kubrick could've directed.

What makes the weather here even more strange a year ago this weekend our community was recovering from one of the freakiest ice storms to hit the Carolinas. There were so many limbs and trees down that it looked like a hurricane had hit the area. We get our fair share of frozen stuff, usually in the form of sleet and freezing rain, but we're used to January and February storms. This one caught us off-guard. We had some close friends without power for over a week! Imagine that the week before Christmas. So the Wahs want to send some good thoughts and love to the good folks up in the American northwest and Canadian southwest that received the wrath of that odd winter storm of a few days ago.

Now for the more "juicy" stuff. As most of you know (if you don't you can check out the posts from the beginning of the week - I'm too lazy tonight to make a quick link) Ben had an interesting week. Whatever the cause of those strange episodes it turns out to be a blessing in disguise.

Thursday we had made the decision to send Ben to school yesterday to at least make up for one of the three days missed this week. Ben was his normal playful self all day except for that weird thing about not wanting to paint. I still can't figure that out. Just before bedtime he became a tad lethargic. Out of motherly concern Joan took his temperature. It was 99. For parents of a special child that's enough to raise the "threat level" to Code Orange (we live normally at level Yellow - Tuesday was a Code Red).

Yesterday we got up to find Ben pretending to be Sleeping Beauty again. We had yet to start the antibiotic since he had been so alert and playful after Tuesday's episode. By 9:00 I called Joan at her office and we decided to cancel school and start the antibiotic.

Now I need to add that Ben's school is just a bit different than other schools (obviously). If Ben is not there on a scheduled school day we usually get a call from his teacher or an administrator. Obviously if a child is sick they want to know why so they can protect the other kids and faculty as best they can. It's a no-brainer. Well dumb-ass me hadn't noticed that the school did not call us all week.

So I made a call to the wonderful Tina who is the school administrative assistant (read: keeps the Washington Center running). Tina reminds me that last Thursday she mentioned a stomach bug had invaded the school. She figured that we were keeping Ben out to avoid what scores of other parents were now dealing with. Interestingly Ben woke up shortly after this phone call and has been...well...Ben since then. Still no antibiotics. You tell me what's going on.

The photo was taken at the site of The Angel Oak. It is considered the oldest tree in South Carolina. It was so cool to see those two small beautiful children among the branches of something so huge, old and beautiful itself.