The Heart Of The Cards
Today fate dealt me a cruel hand today. It started nearly three weeks ago when I learned of Ryon's upcoming party on Friday the 28th. "How could I miss that!?" I thought aloud to myself. Not wanting to end up with the quality of being square, I asked for the day off several days in advance. A wise decision as always. However, those plans would quickly be overshadowed when I came to learn a few days later that the Switzer family Christmas was Sunday the 30th. The Switzer family, most who have not seen me since March or April, perhaps even longer, now had their shot to set their eyes upon me once again, and see me for the first time since I moved. Despite the obvious disappointment that I would most likely miss Ryon's party, I remained ecstatic that Kendra would finally get to meet my family. Everything seemed to be going according to plan. I even got to take a trip to see Ryon and co. a few days earlier to make up for said missed party. As the Sunday approached, I found myself excited to see my niece Leah, who has since started walking a lot and become even more cuter, to play with her would be wonderful. But then things took a turn for the worse. Last Friday night, I went to work at 3 feeling kinda crummy. Wrist and back hurt, upset stomach, slight nausea. Surely it was something I ate, later this would seem reinforced when I found Kendra exhibiting similar symptoms. However, she appeared worse. Nonetheless, it was just a one night, or so I thought. I went to work early the next morning feeling a more crappy. Perhaps it was just early and I didn't eat breakfast, so of course I going to be a little out of it. But as the day marched on, I felt worse and worse. It didn't help I had to wait for over 7 hours of my shift before I was finally able to take my lunch. My lunch, where my stomach had been growling in anger at me all day and the only things I had to feed it was an orange and a stale donut. Kendra had sent me a text at some point. "I don't feel good at all" she proclaimed. Having not worked on Saturday, she remained bed ridden until I came home to discover, she was in fact sick. Coughing, runny nose, pale, dry throat, light headed, it was all there. How could this be? The day before our trip to the Switzer establishment, she gets sick. But I realized she was not the only one. While I wasn't as bad as she, I still carried the bug, I could feel it. It was hard to accept that Kendra once again would be missing the opportunity to meet my family. But being sick is not fun, and it is better to rest I told her. However, this morning, as I woke at 6 am to the alarm of my phone, fate dealt me its cards one more time, and they were not in my favor. It was clear that I could not drive to Peoria, by myself, feeling as bad as I do. I would have been miserable by myself, then once I got there I would feel like shit, I wouldn't be able to play around Leah because I wouldn't want to get her sick, then I would have had a miserable lonely drive home. So now, here I sit, 22 minutes from the time I had planned to depart, knowing that I won't be going to a house full of people who love me, leaving many disappointed over something I had absolutely no control over. And while it may not seem fair, it's best I don't let it get to me and be adult about it. These things happen. Even the best laid plans don't always follow through. I just have to look at the heart of the cards.