We left for our beach holiday with one sick child, and five days later returned with another. While the symmetry appeals, the experience does not.
On the way up the coast, The Big Fella lay slumped in his booster seat. Rarely does he succumb to something as minor as illness, but this time he went the whole nine yards - fever, sore throat, spots, warts.
(He had no spots or warts, but it sounds bad, hey?)
While the big unit is rarely ill, The Complicated One is rarely well. So we shouldn’t have been surprised when he started shivering and sweating on the drive home. My driving isn’t that bad (although my fellow road users on the Pacific Highway were particularly annoying).
The eldest child had gone several days with no apparent symptoms transferring from the least eldest child. Foolishly, we thought we were in the clear.
The Complicated One arrived home sick and grumpy, and then got worse. We sighed with relief when he finally adjourned to bed at 4pm.
He slept on and off until 6.30am (with the emphasis on ‘off’ – we seemed to spend more time walking between our room and his than we did in bed).
So the question ‘Was the beach holiday worth it?' is now decidedly more complicated to answer.
Not only must we consider issues that arose during the holiday: sharing a bed with cockroaches, mice in the ceiling (a minor annoyance really), and sunscreen and sand that never washes off.
We also need to factor in post-holiday issues such as illness (which hasn’t yet migrated to me or Sherrie), washing the car, and cleaning the grout above the stove and kitchen benches.
Yes, when I return from holiday, I am frequently overcome with a need to clean. Today I cleaned the house, washed the car, and used bleach and a toothbrush to clean the kitchen tiles. They now look splendid!
I guess if the house looks cleaner thanks to the after-effects of our beach holiday, then maybe that ties it up – Civilisation 3, Bush 3.
Merry Christmas to you all!
No comments:
Post a Comment