life conclusions

phew. it's been a crazy month for us and it's just half way over.

i feel like most people who are likely to read this already know the story so i'll keep it short. gregg got really sick a few weeks ago. his symptoms were really scary in the beginning. it seemed initially that something was up neurologically. we went to the ER 4 times in less than a week and he was finally admitted on the 4th time. he spent 4 days in the hospital, came home and went back 2 days later for another ER visit. (yeah, 5 ER visits in less than 2 weeks does wonders for your bank account-btw.) in the end, it was determined he had an "unidentifiable virus" that eventually just had to run it's course. those first few days were scary though until that was figured out. i kept fighting thoughts that we may be facing a long road of recovery or a life time of dealing with a neuro issue. it was scary, i cried a lot and we spent a lot of time staring at hospital ceilings.

after it was all over and things were settling down, gregg asked me if i drew any major life conclusions from the two weeks of madness.

this is what i came up with:

-people on house hunters who are looking for a vacation home are super annoying. at least 99% of the time. we did see one couple in savannah who were normal with realistic expectations. but, in general, they are annoying and entitled and pretentious. shut up about the size of the bathroom-you are buying a house on the OCEAN that you will visit a few times a YEAR. shut it woman.

-the older episodes of the office are way more funny and interesting than the newer episodes were. hands down, so much better.

-i love gregg. a lot. i need him a lot. a lot more than i realized 3 weeks ago.

-we have incredible people in our lives. incredible. my parents came to stay at our house for a week to keep the kids while i was back and forth from the hospital. friends took our kids out to do fun things while we couldn't, offered to keep them overnight, brought us food, visited us in the hospital, mowed our lawn, dropped off toys and snacks for the kids. for every person who helped, there were at least 2 others offering help. it was insane and we were blown away and humbled and grateful.

-it takes four ER visits to get me irate with ER staff. the first 3, i was pretty calm and understanding. by the fourth, i was definitely speaking my complaints at a volume loud enough for others to hear. i guess four ER visits in less than a week will do that to a person.

-i am not a deep thinker. shocker.

in the grand scheme of life, our 2 weeks of illness and unknown is so, so small and insignificant. yes, it was real and hard and scary at the time but we are fortunate enough to be among the lucky that only had to deal with it for two weeks. we get to go back to living our regular, healthy lives without much disturbance. i have never been so grateful for our regular life. for evenings in the backyard with crazy kids, shooting annoyed glances at each other over the sibling fighting and humidity. afternoons at the pool taking turns carrying the baby around while the other keeps an eye on the older two. sunday afternoons driving home from church with tired and hungry children, rushing through lunch to just get to naptime already. evenings spent eating ice cream in bed and watching re-runs of New Girl. family dates out to breakfast and to watch the kid's concert at the coffee shop.

our regular life is pretty good.

i'm just grateful. and i hope i stay this way.