You've Died of Dysentery!!

Remember Oregon Trail? Nothing was more fun as a kid than sitting at the computer and getting to play the most epic game of all time. The highlight was getting to hunt, actually shooting something bigger than a stupid squirrel. Equally exciting were the horrible things that happened along the journey - oops, broken axle - dad broke his ankle, Timmy drowned while fording the river, your whole party died of dysentery five miles from Oregon!!

Turns out - real life is kind of the same.

Military wives:  you know the curse. We have all been there.....no sense in trying to pretend it doesn't exist because we all know it does. We are officially in the "We made it to mid-deployment, so shit is hitting the fan" phase:

1. I came home from a fabulous wedding in Denver to a very warm house. I asked Grandma if she noticed, and she had not...hmmm...maybe just me. Nope. Opened the back door to feed the dogs to a stream of water pouring out of the secondary A/C drain. Quick visit from a neighbor confirmed that the A/C had a clogged drain. Damage = minimal.

2. CLANK. CLANK. CLANK. My washing machine should not make that noise. Two days after the A/C, the poor little washing machine met an unexpected death. After the guy at Lowe's told me delivery would be 2.5 weeks away, I nicely explained that, "No, it would not." After I provided my sob story of deployment, three kids, and family visiting, I had promise of a delivery three days later. As I was walking out, the nice Lowe's man said, "You're a feisty one, aren't you?" Damn right. Damage = Medium

3. "Um, we're at In-N-Out and the car won't start," Grandma said over the phone while I was at a conference in Austin. Luckily, my friendly car guys down the street gave grandma and grandpa a quick tow, they snapped in a new alternator, and after a few hundred bucks, we were back in business....until I realized my audio system needed me to input the code after the battery was out. Guess I should have taken care of the broken audio knob when I discovered it. Going to the dealer on Tuesday to get that fixed so music and bluetooth can be restored. Damage = Medium Plus.

4. No.....please....anything but the plague!!! Within hours Friday night/Saturday morning, me, Luke, and Claire fell victim to the horrible plague. Unfortunately, theirs both involved violent stomach upheavals whereas mine left me so light-headed that I couldn't walk from one room to another. Aubrey had thrown up once Thursday morning (randomly?), so we are praying that was the extent of her being sick.  The happy news was that it was a very quick moving bug and we were able to make it to Easter brunch....until at dinner-time, Grandma realized she didn't feel good. Victim #5 down. Damage = Substantial (but thank goodness for a working washing machine!)

In the midst of the chaos, I've been in Shreveport and Austin for work, and we're about to head home to Kansas for Mike and Blake's wedding (woot woot!!). So, let's cross our fingers and hope that the bad luck curse has run its course.