Chef's Special

Maybe I should wait until the last 24 hours sinks in before I come to the blog, but on the other hand I feel like writing. I love to use this forum for All Things Positive and very rarely do I succumb to Negative Crap (yes, it deserves it's own caps). When I write "This Christmas Sucked", automatically the Positive Factory in my head starts churning its wheels, seeking for and cranking out the positive bits of having your 5-month old rushed to the E.R. for the second time in three days, being admitted and testing positive for RSV after they suspected whooping cough, and being by her side at all times while she went into coughing fits lasting nearly 20 minutes. So the positive I relate is that we were here where all of my family are, and Gabe hasn't missed a beat while we've been at Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh the last day and night. 

I hit a moment of depression when food services handed me this: 

Chef's Special

This was my Christmas dinner?! But then I thought about the food service people working, away from their families too, on Christmas Day. I thought about the chef, who decided to prepare hot ham, a soggy bun, runny salad, and stuffing that seemed to run around on my plate when I went to stab it with my fork. I thought about what the day could have been: Waking up at Ma's, watching Gabe and everyone else open presents, eat our traditional nut roll with coffee, and sit and talk in the living room all morning. I thought about coming to Dad's in the afternoon, eating with everyone, talking and laughing. 

Instead, I had to take comfort in knowing Anna was in the best place around and to just be... at peace with how things were going. We were admitted around 11 p.m. Christmas Eve, and were walking out and heading home a little around 8. Exhausted and totally drained. 

All of this was a good lesson in looking past the "holiday-ness" of it all and focusing in on how really beautiful this day was, the day of our Jesus Christ's birth, and without Him, there is nothing. 

Anna is comfortable sleeping now and I am not too far behind. I'm up hanging with Pops, Sharon, Katie and Bekah, loving that we are home and hoping the next few days find Anna a little more healthier.