On Valentine’s Day, Sam and I were both all strepped out with, you know, that legendary strep affliction. The name alone packs a lot of punch, kinda like “Cher” and “Charo.” Suspiciously enough, though, the others in our realm who also succumbed to strep this week just so happen to be other guests from last weekend’s birthday sleepover, including the saintly sleepover mother herself. Well, ain’t that a kick in the head? (This dang headache sure felt like a kick in the head.) No good deed goes unpunished, right?
She still says she would do it all over again, but with buckets of hand sanitizer on hand this time. Oh well, at least they had a blast, right? It’s like playing Clue to figure out who the carrier was. Was it the little boy in the blue fleece who was coughing? Was it the little sister bringing in preschool germs to the mix? Ah, that is one mystery that will never be solved, but it sure makes for a good story, huh?
Strep always amazes me, such a strange sickness with its laundry list of seemingly unrelated symptoms. The irony is that I was 100 % sure I had it. It was he worst sore throat of my life (or as long as I can remember at least) along with swollen glands, a killer headache, and achiness galore. Then I figured that Sam may as well get checked out since he seemed to have a lingering cold. As it turns out, he came up positive for it, and I didn’t. Go figure.
After picking up the antibiotics, we drove by Sam’s school and dropped off his valentines for the class. We figured the other kids could at least get theirs from him on time. He was a good sport about it, but I could tell he was disappointed, missing all the excitement and the class party with COOKIES! Watching “Phineas and Ferb” all day long sure cheered him up, though, not to mention an ice cream sandwiches.
Late in the afternoon as it was just starting to get dark, I noticed a flash of red out the window. When what to my wandering eyes should appear, but SAM’S TEACHER walking up our steps wearing a pretty red sweater! Oo la la! She is a local celebrity to us! What was going on? Was it a vision? Can strep make you hallucinate, too?
With her trademark smile, she had come to deliver Sam’s valentines so he wouldn’t feel left out. WOW! I was blown away by her kindness — or simply “gobsmacked” as the Brits say. In my excitement I called to Sam, “You’ll never guess who is here! It’s even better than Santa Claus!” She laughed, but he was WOW-ed, too! AND she even brought him a big cookie from the party.
