Sick Day

Last week I started to loose my mind a little bit. I'm really stuck in a pickle with one particular class, I've been super stressed and overwhelmed by my to-do list, and sad about a few things. By Wednesday I knew something was going to have to give, and soon, otherwise I would maybe started throwing students or my son and husband out the window. So I took Friday off as a Mental Health Day. Best. Idea. Ever. Although it took a few days to be fully effective.

Friday itself was just okay. Well, I had a fun time with Ben. I took him to Irvine Park, which is our favorite, to do the pumpkin patch and train and whatnot. He didn't want to do the train or whatnot--all he wanted to do was the bounce house. I wasn't originally going to let him do it because it was $4 for ten minutes, but since he wasn't interested in the other activities I figured I'd let him. We were there for quite a while. He ran and played with pumpkins, took one step inside the "haunted" house, sprinted through the hay maze, and bounced. We took a walk to the lake. It was a really nice time.

We stopped at the toy store on the way home because I wanted to watch him play and get ideas for Christmas. He was a hoot.

While I had fun, the funk was still there. I was tired and lethargic, feeling blue, and still dreading the eventual return to work. So...not quite there yet.

In the evening we took Ben to a local church's Harvest Carnival. He ran and played with his friends, got candy, and got in trouble for picking up the bunnies in the petting zoo. He really loves bunnies. We enjoyed seeing and chatting with friends, including some we haven't seen in a while. It was a really nice evening, and Ben was super cute in his costume. But I was still blue. Boo hoo.

Saturday was nice. It had rained most of the night, so the air was crisp and clean and cool. We went to the beach for our friends' son's baptism. It was sweet and wonderful, and the kids got to play in the sand, which was fun for them. After the baptism they had a little barbecue at their house (which is also our house, because we're neighbors). Ben had fun with his friends, we chatted with ours. In the evening we put Ben to bed early and rested. The haze began to slowly lift.

Sunday was good. We woke up early and had what may have been our best Disneyland day yet. We stayed for a long time (for us), did everything, and had the best time. Ben was alert and happy 80% of the time, it wasn't crowded, we got to do all of Ben's favorites, and for a treat we bought him something to bring home. He took a good nap. When he woke we played, had a good fall dinner of chili and cornbread, then took Ben out for his first time trick or treating. It was adorable. At first he just filled his bucket with leaves. At our neighbor's house they gave him candy, which he wanted open right away. Eventually he settled for just clutching it in one hand and his bucket of leaves in the other. By the end he was walking up to people, holding out his bucket, and saying, "candy please! more please!" Precious. Of course 3/4 of the way around the block he said he wanted to take a break then laid down on the sidewalk. I carried him home, made hot cocoa, and we watched The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Perfect. I felt like I had risen from the dead. I went back to work Monday feeling great.

Except that yesterday I had a horrible sore throat, which gradually turned into today's heinous cold. I can't take a sick day because I took one last week when I was mentally ill. Oh well. It is what it is. So I'll go to work all snotty and germy. That's fine.