A Most Fortunate Malady

I was suddenly struck by an unexplained malady yesterday. I was bopping through my workday feeling fairly well and right around lunchtime I began to feel as though I were coming down with the flu. I felt achy, feverish and queasy. I was majorly freaked. After all, I have Kirsten's family coming for Thanksgiving dinner. My manager walked past my desk and asked if I was ok. When I told him I wasn't feeling well he recoiled and ordered me to go home. This was of course not for my welfare but because he has a running race coming up and didn't want to catch something from me.

I drove home, dreading the tale of the thermometer and wondering if I could contact Dr. G. B. for a script for Tamiflu. Then I took my temp and found I was not running a fever at all. Damn thing wouldn't even come up to normal. (Typical for me; low-acting thyroid causes me to run a bit low on temp).

So, after chilling on the couch for a few minutes I thought I should see if I could accomplish a few chores while I was home during both daylight and nice weather. Against the advice of friends and girlfriend I dragged out the lawn mower and made the front yard look like humans lived there again. This activity kicked off a fortunate series of events. My elderly neighbor saw me in the yard and came over to tell me he had cut up some wood I could use in my stove. I got my wheelbarrow and came over to retrieve it. While there, his wife asked if I would like to see their son's garden. It was indeed impressive and I really wanted to replicate it in my own backyard. One conversation led to another and before I knew it she was offering me fresh lettace out of the garden. Filled a bag and gave it to me. I then commented on a planter with fresh basil in it and she said- "Do you want some? Ronnie says he is going to till it under this week". She helped me gather huge stems and I came home with wood, lettace and enough basil to look like an embarrassing bouquet.

I decided to make pesto. I ran out to the store to get parmesan and walnuts and a bit more olive oil. The next 2 hours was spent feeding fragrant leaves into my roomie's food processor. I ended up with probably about a half gallon of fresh pesto.

Besides this lucky streak, the thing I enjoyed the most was sitting down and chatting with my neighbors. They are such sweet people and they always give me something. I appreciate the thought more than the gifts and I wonder if the current generation of neighbors will ever connect with people in this way. They are like the grandparents I always wanted. Mr. Schaeffer (the neighbor) even taught me how to sharpen a chainsaw blade.

Tonight I am taking the neighbors some fresh pesto.

Oh, and I found a quarter in the parking lot of HEB. Best sick day ever!