horizontal view

This past week found my legs, and most of the rest of my body as well, in the horizontal position for a good chunk of the day. With a combination of the nasty stomach virus that has swept our town and a nasty case of the lazies hitting our family, I've found it increasingly difficult to get up off the couch. Unless I was cleaning vomited chunks of french toast and grapes out of a bucket of Legos (one of the highlights of my parenting career to date), or I was bringing bottles of water or blankets to some shivery or potentially dehydrated family member, I was usually making a big old butt impression on the couch. My trusty little netbook, the remote or a book were put into service quite a bit, as was a pillow under my head. I'm hugely grateful that my insides didn't turn into mush like a certain other grown-up in the house, but I wasn't a fan of the three-day-long gurgly stomach and fatigue that I did get graced with either.

All of this is to say that I'm thrilled that today is Friday, that the weekend is upon us, even if it isn't of the three-day variety. Now that everyone seems to be back in regular form, I hope to get some cleaning (disinfecting!) done this weekend, a growing pile of books calls to me from the shelf, Red resumes her beloved dance class and it's my turn to be Pudge's partner for swim class tomorrow morning, a glorious talk by author Lenore Skenazy (whose book, Free-Range Kids, I've talked about just a bit in the past) awaits me on Sunday, and I'm beginning to feel a surprising urge to look at the world from a vertical stance. Wish me luck.


With optimism seeping from my pores,