It was only late last week that I was going through some old posts and thinking “maybe we won’t be quite so sick this winter.”
Ha!
Last night Nathan rang in Pathogen Extravaganza 2008 with an impressive emesis, notable for both its volume and coverage. He’s home today. I don’t think he’s repeated the feat, but his truce with his tummy is uneasy, at best. Not movin’ much, this kid.
It felt like we were sick all the damned time last year, and looking back over my posts from then it looks like I blogged about it all the damned time too. I’ll dial it way back this winter. It’s only so interesting.
I mentioned this one, though, because there’s a potentially relevant back story.
Nathan’s first Upward basketball practice was Monday night. We went out to eat afterward, and chose Oh! Bryan’s, a local family steakhouse that has only recently begun opening on Mondays. The food’s good and reasonably priced.
We usually have good service, but this time our server was one of the more singularly unfocused young people I’ve ever encountered. He took our order and never gave it to the kitchen. No crowd; we’re at one of perhaps four occupied tables in the place. When the manager figured out what had happened she apologized, hustled it out, and comped us. (I tried to resist that. Giving me $30 of dinner seems excessive compensation for having to wait 30 minutes instead of 20, and she’d already been polite and contrite, which was all that was indicated. But she’d already closed the register.)
So the wait is long, is the point. And how does my firstborn entertain himself during this wait?
He licks the wall.
Now I don’t mean he’s giving it a tentative and exploratory flick here and there. I mean he’s swabbing that thing earnestly, as if it were oozing chocolate syrup. Kid’s got all of his tongue that he can get out of his mouth flat on that wall, and he’s easing his head up slowly, to maximize the experience.
It took me a good, long second to properly resolve this visual. People don’t lick walls. Hell, dogs don’t lick walls. I firmly informed him of his error, and he stopped.
Now I don’t know that he contracted his gastroenteritis right then, but it’s certainly not a silly thought. He’s feeling rotten enough right now that I think it’d be more mean than instructive to go all I-told-you-so on him. However, once he’s begun an ascent, but still while he’s close enough to his misery to really remember it, I’m going to connect them for him.
Folks, wash your hands. Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze. And please don’t lick the wall.
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Tonks’ dog licks the wall. No one knows why.
I’m willing to bet that his tummy yucky is, indeed, part of the wall-licking experience. That’s some kind of weird stuff…
I’m sorry for the poor baby, but I’m glad it’s not me. You know how I feel about puke…
I have since talked to the next door neighbor who has a kid home from school today with the exact same stomach virus type symptoms. Wall licking is an incredibly stupid thing to do but it may turn out that school is the real culprit… although we won’t tell him THAT!
It was my turn for cleanup duty, too, dammit!
‘Course, something going around also increases the chances of wall-licking being infectious.
And yes, it was your turn, Lea, but that was a transcendent vomit last night. You’ll get a pass on the next two regular-strength events.
Oh boy, may this delightful experience for you all pass quickly.
I’m never going to forget about the wall licking, though…
I hate restaurants like that, I’ve walked out of them after ordering at times. One time the waiter chased me out into the street begging me not to leave because he’d get fired. I said to him that surely there must be a job he’d actually attempt to do well. I thought he was gonna hit me.
I actually do not like restaurants in general, because I feel imprisoned by the process. Most restaurants achieve what I refer to as “balance”: bad food/bad service. Of course, they don’t even blush about what they charge.
Some places one would be better off eating the paint.
O’Mama: I thought we were in trouble overnight, but Lea’s mild discomfort hasn’t worsened, and Nathan says he’s well (and external indicators are consistent with such). No report from Aaron yet.
I’ll never forget the wall-licking either. Its seriousness was jarring. 🙂
Gerry: I don’t receive truly bad service very often at all anywhere, and like I said, we usually have a good experience at this place. We’ll go back.
Damn, Gerry. I’m glad I never had you for a customer when I waited tables. I think most servers actually try to do a good job and feel bad if the customer has a bad experience– and it’s often not the server’s fault. He/she didn’t cook your steak or not order enough onion rings. Do you tip when the service is OK?
As far as the wall-licking episode…. eh, he’s a kid. I hope that’s the dumbest thing he ever does, but the odds of that are pretty slim.