Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Fear ='s Tranquility? or Peace like a River. (You choose.)

So, church was cancelled throughout our stake last Sunday because pretty much everyone has the Swine Flu. Yep. Nearly every neighbor we have talked to in the last week has sounded horribly ill, or at the very least has had a house full of sick kiddos. It's pretty much awful.

So, I totally freaked out was like:

"Kyle, we're so super healthy right now, and Kort is so super healthy right now, and it's soooo nice to be feeling all wonderful and great right now, and it makes me sick to think about Kort suddenly feeling AWFUL for a week straight and possibly having to go to the hospital, and I just know that the elementary school is a nasty cesspool of swine flu germies, and if we send him there, he will inevitably get it and then I will be sooooo sad, and I just think that maybe he should stay home for a couple of days (a couple of days? ha! Because the swine flu is going to be totally erradicated in the next couple of days, for sure! I love completely irrational Lola, she's so much fun sometimes.) just until this whole swine flu thing blows over because I really, really, really, don't want him to get it, and practically EVERYONE already has it, so that just leaves us, and I don't want us to be next, so we should just keep him home, and he will almost certainly get cabin fever and start driving us super crazy, and we will have to find something to do, but we won't be able to go to fun public places like Chuck E. Cheese's and/or Kangaroo Zoo because they will be totally infested cesspools as well (Is the term "infested cesspools" redundant? I feel like it kinda sorta is. "Kinda sorta," on the other hand, is DEFINITELY redundant. Sure of that one. By the way, while I'm on a "grammatical/literary correctness" tangent, I would like to say that I fully realize that I don't use parenthetical statements properly, but I don't care. I like the way I use them. Moving on.) so we will have to go somewhere secluded, safe, and swine flu free!"

Please note that I said this entire run on sentence in one breath. Those of you who know me personally (and especially those who have had the misfortune of knowing me from birth) will know that this is true.

Photobucket So, yesterday, Kort stayed home from school. We went fishing in the mountains instead. It was kind of like "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" only, "playing hookie" involved parental approval based on the threat of a terrifying pig disease that never managed to turn up in the peaceful, imaginary days of Tom Sawyer. It was wonderful. Then I got to thinking...
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The swine flu is gonna be around for awhile. There, I said it. I don't like it, but there it is. It's here, and I really can't justify hiding over the next several (or for all I know million) months. Now, we're going to take all of the preventative measures we can to keep ourselves healthy, and we're going to pray (like, a lot) but mostly, we're just going live our dang lives and whatever will be will be and such.
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So take that, Swine-y.
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(oh, and thanks for scaring us into one heck of a lovely Monday)
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Word to your mother.
(Do Swine Flu viruses have mothers?) hm.
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Shhh! Stop ranting about the Swine Flu already!
You'll scare away the fish!

The end.

13 comments:

Mary E Campbell said...

great post - absolutely stunning pictures.

Tyran, the Yeti Yogi said...

As of 11 Oct, WHO (the World Health Organization) reports there are 399,232 cases of swine flu reported since the outbreak started. WHO also notes that most countries have stopped reporting mild cases so the actual number of infections is dramatically higher. There have been 4,735 deaths related to swine flu. Using the report numbers above (which are low on the number of infections) that means only 1.1% of people who become infected die. If we had the true number of infections, that percentage would be even lower.

The seasonal flu related deaths top 36,000 in the US alone each year.

Why all the hype and fear if the numbers are so low? Because the last three pandemics—each with millions of infections and death tolls in the millions—were all from new strains of the flu. H1N1 isn't exactly a new strain but it's history, it caused the 1918-1920 pandemic resulting in 20 million+ deaths, and the fact it's been absence in humans for decades, making it "new to you", are justifiable concerns.

Long story short, don't let the fears of life stop you from living. I'm glad to see you turned your fear into a beautiful day with the family!

Barbaloot said...

What a fun day---love the pictures of your boy. And I hope your family can remain swine flu free.

Nikki Moshier said...

Haha love this post! Those photos are BEAUTIFUL! And your little man is GORGEOUS!! Um he needs to be a model or something for sure!

Lisa said...

I LOVE the lovely monday pictures!! they are the best!!

Brooke said...

You crack me UP!! I also love how you turned fear of the "swinies" into a lovely day with your family. Darling pics and what a gorgeous setting!! So glad I got to meet and hang out with you, lady! And now we can be blog buds. :) Nerdy but true.

Cable Car Couture said...

What a great excuse for a photo shoot and fishing in the mountains. As long as the swine flu continues, maybe you can just keep playing... :)

Kirsten said...

You are the funniest...you little goodball head, and your boy is ADORABLE!!!! What a cutie head, my boys would have fun with him. So let's get together for a crafty night, you little fancy pilgrim!

Follygirl said...

Thanks for these beautiful pictures... "golden moments"...
Greetings from Germany
Liebe Grüße, Petra

Unknown said...

I love your long run on sentence : ) You made me laugh and laugh as I can just imagine you rattling that off!
What gorgeous pictures. Holy cow is Utah ever pretty. Simply gorgeous! And so are your boys.

This Heavenly Life said...

These are fantastically GORGEOUS! pictures. You got skillz :) But, if I must say, I don't see how you could take a bad picture of that handsome little boy. Really. I feel like gushing on his handsomeness, but that feels slightly...awkward. Yet, true.

Anyway....I'm loving your blog and spending way too much time staring at your handsome boy, so I'll try to contain myself :)

Anita Johnson said...

The photos are beautiful...it is one of my favorite type of places to spend some time! Stay well!

paige said...

What beautiful pictures!

I came over here from communal global. What a great blog! (Except the part about people getting swine flu. That's not great. But the blog is great.)

:)