Alone in Utah...

A few months ago Will surprised me with tickets to a women's retreat in Utah.  He bought the tickets early and life has been busy so I didn't give the trip much thought until the departure day was almost here.  I was off to spend four days without kids talking to other mothers figuring out how we wanted to best do our jobs.  It was part therapy session, part work conference, and part dream retreat.  I spent time thinking about me and what I wanted for myself and time thinking about my family and what I wanted for them.  Then I tried to come up with ways to make it all happen...slowly.  

While I was away, Will was a full-time CEO and stay at home Dad.  He did both jobs wonderfully.  He even had to take a day trip down to Southern California for work and no one died!  

 

 

After my women's retreat, I visited my sister and brother in Centerville.  Oh, and it snowed while I was in Utah.  I had a rented car and was worried about driving in the snow but it was just like heavy rain.  All was well.  I had a lovely 18 hours with my siblings then I flew home to California...with the flu.

It started the first day of my retreat but I thought it was the uncomfortable hotel ballroom chairs I had to sit in all day.  I had a cough and my body hurt everywhere.  I chalked the cough up to the dry air in Utah.  I bought some cold medicine and a humidifier for the hotel room just in case.  The next morning, I felt even worse!  I couldn't bail on the conference (as much as I wanted to) and stay in my hotel bed all day.  So I took a fistful of cold medicine and Advil and soldered on.  By the end of the day, I knew I was sick.  It was not cool...  

Instead of staying my last night in the hotel I called my sister in Centerville and drove up there.  We talked in the car for a little bit and then went inside to surprise my brother.  I came up the stairs to his house as he rounded the corner from the hall.  We walked into each other and he just said "What?!" in the best surprised voice.  I love surprises and it was fun to show up unannounced.  

I wasn't going to tell anyone I was in Utah.  I was just going to take time for myself and do the retreat thing.  But I am so glad I went to my brother's house too.  We all had a nice visit and I got to sleep in their guest bedroom which had a bed about a thousand times more comfortable than the hotel bed.  It was also nice to be taken care of and catch up on their lives.  Too bad I had the full on flu by that point.  I couldn't eat anything and pumped myself full of drugs to make it through the flight home.  

When I got home, I crashed.  (After getting to spend the return flight next to my dear friend, Carrie)  I was sick for a week!  I couldn't get out of bed and when I did I would be laid low for hours after.  It was a mess.  Poor Will had already been doing double duty and had to keep it up while his wife was convalescing.  He was a champ and took care of everything.  I'm a lucky girl and even lucky girls get the flu sometimes.