Show and TellPosted by Kara on November 30th, 2008
What I Did on My Thanksgiving Vacation
by Jim-Jim Mann
I went with Mommy and Daddy to visit GrannySan in New Mexico. It was the first time any of us had been out there to visit her since she moved back last year. We were so excited! I enjoyed the car ride there and was so pleasant! Mommy and Daddy even told me I’m the best car-rider ever!
Once we got there, I started feeling pretty bad. They were eating Thanksgiving dinner, and I decided to spike a fever. A little Motrin later courtesy of our hosts, and I was back on track for the night. Notice I said “for the night”? The next morning was worse! Mommy, Daddy, and GrannySan spent the next day trying to keep my fever down. Daddy even called my doctor, and the doctor said to take me in immediately if my fever ever got above 102 degrees. It took a lot of cuddling, snoozing, and Tylenol, but it never did.
Crisis averted, right? Hold your horses, here comes the exciting part! We were getting close to Abilene on our way home when I started getting a little restless. Daddy decided to stop at a Dairy Queen so we could stretch our legs for a minute. When we got out of the car, mommy noticed that I was a little flushed so she took my temperature. 103.7 degrees!!! She stripped me down, dosed me with Tylenol, and started rubbing cold, wet paper towels all over my body. Fifteen minutes later, 103.2 degrees. Oh, the stares we got when Daddy took a naked me out in the frigid wind of this podunk town to cool me off! Thirty minutes later, 102.9 degrees. Daddy started freaking out a bit so he asked a man where the nearest hopistal was. It was 20 minutes away in Abilene. But the kind, toothless man that reeked of urine (definitely a local) informed us that we could “hit the 9-1-1 on the phone”, and an officer would escort us to the hospital. Hmmm, think he’s taken that trip before? We decided to head to Abilene. Mommy would take my temperature 5 minutes out of Abilene and if it was less than 102.0 degrees we’d go on to Dallas. If it was any higher we’d go to the hospital. Five miles out of Abilene mommy checked my temperature again, and it was 102.0 degrees. Staying true to the plan, Daddy stopped at a pharmacy and bought some Children’s Motrin so they could use Tylenol AND Motrin to fight this fever all the way back to Dallas. Up until this point I had been my happy self, playing with my toys and cooing in the back seat. Post Abilene, all hell broke loose! I cried for 2 hours straight, except for the 15 minutes of sleep I got here and there. Two hours straight! We finally got home 9 hours after starting our trip. Mommy and Daddy said I was the worst car rider ever, and they won’t take me anywhere else until I’m old enough to do the driving. A little over-dramatic much?