Losing Morale Altitude

Today is not a good day for us. In fact, it’s not been a great few days. This isn’t a complaint, it’s just a fact. Not every day on the road is going to be pretty. No issues. I mention it only to round out the picture of our year. I don’t want to forget any of it - even this part. One of my favorite quotes: “When you’re going through hell… just keep going. You certainly don’t want to stay there.” No idea who said it.

Where to start. Everyone apart from Evie has thrown up within the last 6 days - some of us more recently than others and some of us more likely to again than others.

While Jack seems to be over his issues, he suddenly has a mouth full of teeth with more on the way. He went from the 4 he’s had forever to 8 or 9 and he’s still drooling. He is not a happy camper and he’s perpetually whiney. Unfortunately for him, I don’t like drugs so now we all get to suffer together.

Scott claims to feel fine. He was so “fine” that at 7 pm last night he came into the camper, said he was “fine” and I turned around to get something off the stove only to turn back around and find him wrapped up in a Micky Mouse blanket shivering. My idea of “fine” is somewhat closer to “good”, “normal” or even “average”. It is my contrary opinion that he is not yet “fine”.

I’m doing closer to fine. I haven’t eaten much more than saltines and ginger ale for 72 hours, but that’s ok. My energy is up, I’m drinking coffee without issue this morning (which means no raging caffeine headache later in the day!) and I’m capable of keeping up with the kids. It would be nice if we could go outside, but there’s a dreary cold wet day outside so we are trapped in the RV for the time being.

Boston the dog…. now he’s having a truly bad day. It's his turn. So far he’s had diarrhea all over the driver-side floor (carpet), thrown up in the same spot, pooped again near the main door and made a mess (it's unclear what exactly was going on) on the floor in front of the couch. He’s shivering noticeably. I'm not sure if he’s suffering from the same thing that brought us to our knees (apparently there are 2 kinds of bacteria that is capable of making the leap from humans to dogs) OR I caught him eating something at the sand dunes in Utah. He doesn’t do well with consuming mystery substances. It could have been poop, a dead animal… heck, he could have tried to eat a snake for all I know. He’s cute but he’s not smart. I'm trying to google "when it's time to see a vet" as I write. I'm also Clorox’ing and dealing with sitting in a tin can that smells like bad body fluids… again.

I’ve made 3-year-old Evie so paranoid about washing her hands she does it on her own every hour or so… just because. I also cut her nails (as well as Jack’s) to make sure there was no place for dirt to linger. They need long deep baths, but we’re more than a week away from that happening. For now, short showers will have to do.

Did I mention ants mysteriously showed up in force this morning underneath the dinette table? That’s fun. Evie doesn’t want to kill them, “... their mommy would be sad.” Great. I’d be willing to lay down Vegas money that ants don’t have the range of emotions she’s assigning to them… but now I have to kill them surreptitiously. Add ant assassin to my mommy portfolio.

And as I sit down to resume writing… Jack, our 1-year-old, has just taken it upon himself to pee all over our bed. He appeared to aim directly for my pillow. Sometimes... not often, very rarely... he actually can be a little bit of an stinker. I suspect it will serve him well when he's older. Chicks dig bad boys. He's also the sweetest little soul who likes to give big hugs and kisses so I'm not at all worried.

I'm sitting here trying to finish up before we hit the road and.... I couldn’t make this up..... Scott just said, “I found out why the RV still smells like poop. Boston pooped all over your side of the floor up front too.” Are you messing with me?! Seriously?

Third time is a charm. Once again, I have deployed the Clorox bomb. After that I went over everything with vinegar for good measure. I hope those 2 things don’t mix like Clorox and ammonia… but with the way my day has gone, it’s likely.

Like any normal person with half a brain, today I would rather be in a warm home in front of a tv wrapped up in blankets on a couch today with a cup of tea (or a hot toddy or even Wild Turkey buried deep in a large glass of Coke) and plenty of toys to keep the kids entertained. Instead we’re chilly, it’s drafty, there is no tv (something we normally enjoy but right now I think it's really insane) and we’re fighting a losing battle against some unseeable warrior germs that have turned the Chief into a mobile biohazard. Welcome to the rough side of adventure. This is the time when you have to put your big girl pants on and just go.