OMG

We have had the sickness that won't end.

It started with Ella last Wednesday and then ya'll know about Maya's oxygen plight on Friday and then Sandi and I were sick all weekend (and I missed my half marathon) and only this afternoon do I NOT feel like I am dragging my body around. We've kept ourselves in quarantine, cancelling all plans, watching an excess of movies, living on hearty vegetable and rice soup and trying to maintain our sanity.

Has anyone ever told you that one of the hardest things about being a parent (aside from Kindergarten) is being sick and having sick children to care for?

Well, let me tell you. It sucks.

On top of all of it, we found an injured bird, a sweet steel gray with whisps of lime green flightless cutie, on the walkway to our back door Saturday. We were all enchanted with her and made her a bed in a cardboard box with some wood shavings, water and birdseed, covering it enough so flight would not be attempted and Coconut the cat would be denied entry. Ella named her "Tweety Time."

She made it through the first night and we took her outside to see if she could fly (she still could not) and then read up on caring for a bird with a broken wing. Sandi got out her nursey equipment (housed in a converted tackle box and really super cool) and we attempted to immobilize the wing. This is not anything I recommend for the avian inexperienced. A meek cry from the bird had us putting our hands up in prompt surrender. We upgraded her to a former hamster cage and put her in a quiet room for the night.

This morning I was thrilled and slightly overwhelmed (after all we still hadn't given her medical care) to see she had made it through another night, but this afternoon when Ella came home (sick) from school she discovered the deceased Tweety Time in her minature food bowl.

"She's laying on her side with her eyes open. I think she's dead." Ella's' big round eyes said even more than her words.

(Maya just kept saying "She's takin' a NAP! The bird is takin' a NAP!")

We had a lovely birdy funeral, placing the delicate corpse in a portion of an egg carton and placing flower blossoms and greens all around her. I dug a hole (wearing my heeled sandles, no less-all in a day's work) and Ella said the eulogy: "We really tried to take good care of you. I hope you had a good life. And I hope you come back as something beautiful."

So despite having a sick family for 6 days, we also found and lost an enchanting bird. Oh, and our dog who is having hormone issues, peed all over our couch and our bed while she was sleeping without even realizing it.

I think I need a vacation. Schoodic anyone?