Sick little men…

2018 is off to a cold start, and while it sucks to stay indoors 99% of the time I understand it could be worse. I’ve survived some rather harsh weather in my time, so I understand that snow is the least fearsome of them all as long as you’re reading for it. When I lived in Newfoundland, we had a hurricane that rode up the east coast and thus hit our city. It was a paltry category one, but it still did a lot of damage to the town. I keep thinking if this was category one, the other categories must have been a real shit storm.

When I was residing in South Korea in 2002, the city I was living in on the south coast of the country took a direct hit from a nasty Typhoon. This time it was a Category 3 storm, and that was fucking scary. This storm was so bad that the Canadian Embassy actually contacted me and asked if I needed to be evacuated. I told them to hold off cause I was in a building that was very well built and was assured we’d be fine, and we were. The winds were insane, as the storm made the hurricane I saw in Newfoundland look like a walk in the park. It was a sight to behold, as trees were flapping in the wind like they were thin pieces of paper, and the city was a mess when it was all over. When it was all said and done, over a hundred people in the few surrounding it had died, a shocking stat that would make anyone respect the power of these storms.

I’ve even seen a tornado from a distance, thankfully a great distance. This twister was just a class 1, but seeing that small finger touch the ground was almost enough to make a grown man crap his pants. Those things are fucking frightening.

So when someone asks me how I put up with the negative degree weather up here in Canada, I remind them that compared to other disasters that occur I think we happen to get of light and choose not to bitch and complain about it.

The only thing that really sucks about this time of year, is people getting flu/cold which is what has happened here. Over Xmas, Ethan had a fever and spend the majority of his holiday in bed while I was in Florida. By the time I got back from my trip, Ethan was back on his feet and bouncing around as usual. One day after I took the boys for their week with Dad, Jonathan was the one who fell ill. His cheeks turned flush red, he became very lethargic, and just wanted to either lay down or cuddle with someone. This is how I know Jon is really sick; when he doesn’t want to play on the computer and turns down food, especially pizza… then this boy is seriously not feeling well.

After laying on the couch snuggled into a blanket like a cocoon and watching television for a few days, Jon is finally feeling better. His temp is back to normal, is back on the computer, and eating well again. It’s always weird to watch your kids battle sickness, because you instinctively want to go screaming to emerg and see the first doctor available. Yet it wasn’t that bad, and just a few Tylenol later, the little guy was doing better and is back on his feet. I resisted the urge to panic, and instead chose to communicate with his mother to get advice on how she handled this when Ethan wasn’t feeling well the week before. I understood the best way to deal with it was not to panic and to reach out for advise. That seemed to do the trick.

So with a few more days left in my week with the boys, we’re just going to stay home and chill. The temps are going even lower, and I will not even suggest taking them out when it’s that bad. I might even take a cab to bring them home just so they don’t have to deal with the freaky numbers the weather sites are suggesting we’re going to get this weekend. So I restocked on the basics last night, and we’re good for the rest of the week/weekend.

I’ve got to get back to work. I hope everyone is having a good week and keeping warm!

Cheers,

Peter