“Do you have the bug that’s going around?”
The setting was a pharmacy in northern Tennessee, where the over the counter drugs are behind the counter. (Your identification insures you are not a drughead, but rather just have a mild medical issue you’d like to shake.) I’d just gone on a mini-rant to the things I would like, including breathing, Sudafed, an improvement in my throat’s general condition and the ability to breathe.
I did have this particular bug, virus, crud, infection or allergies. I did not explain that I didn’t have the local variety, but had rather contracted this elsewhere and was considering adding to the local scene’s viral joy if she didn’t give me the Sudafed.
She was a very lovely young lady, pleasant and chipper. She wished me well. She wanted to chat. I wanted to medicate, tired of not breathing, I’d come to think of those two tiny pills as the miracle elixir. It’ll take many doses, but give me the things, let’s not discuss microbiology.
We’re traveling, clearly. The goal is South Bend for a quick weekend. This is a nice trip, schmoozing on behalf of a non-profit, seeing a friend, perhaps catching a football game.
Watching a game at Notre Dame Stadium will be a treat. It’s a long-time goal that has suddenly materialized as a possibility. How many of those do you get in life? You have an idea of something you’d like to experience at some point in the future. Then, one day, you turn around and suddenly you could be doing that this weekend.
Life is good.
Except for the sniffles.
Saw this at a Chick-fil-A along the way:
Ice Cream was booked, apparently. Actually, they call all of their dairy-based dessert-like substances Ice Dream. I’ll leave it to you to examine their ingredients and tell me why.
Because of the throat pain I indulged in a milkshake. I recommend the peach. Sadly the banana pudding version has been removed from your list of choices.
Spending the night at one of the family outposts. My step-brother was there, ready to set out for his next trip. He travels for a living, which sounds like a lot of fun when you’re in your 20s, as he is. Now, in my 30s, I’m thinking of our trip and realizing “This would have been better at 24.”
Why do we let this happen to us? Why does it take so little time?
Tomorrow, something from South Bend. And then Sunday we’ll be on the road again. Lots of windshield time this weekend.
