N is for November Rain, Again

We have had flooding in the county. 

The Nooksack River is the biggest culprit. Places in Sumas and Everson were affected - same as 2021.

Last Sunday church was helping people muck out houses.

I went to ACTUAL church alone because I had to do primary. There were only old people and junior primary there.

Everyone else, including my family, was out in the muck and the mud. 

They came home filthy dirty with sack lunches. 

Hopefully they find a way to keep the rivers from overflowing in future atmospheric rivers. 

 

Is There Not Room Enough

This past week has been hard for my friend Roxanne. 

On Thursday they were mountain biking and at the top of the Galbraith, Vance had a massive stroke. 

They were thankfully at check point foxtrot, so the three ambulances were able to get to them quickly.

From the hospital, they flew him to Seattle. 

The next day me and Lisa drove to be with her for the day as she learned the extent of the damage and what comes next. 

It's a lot of unknown, highs and lows, big improvements! and patience as speech and communicating are still stunted. 

His physical progress and balance and fine motor have come back completely in one week! 

Wednesday night Roxanne texted the saddest most frustrating information about how Vance had no concept of time, money, his age. 

The very next day I was sitting in Evan's band concert and she texted this:

A video of Vance playing his mandolin! And he was able to communicate through charades questions about the government shutdown and how he will get paid. 

IN ONE DAY! Roxanne said he had turned a corner and "was himself". 

I just could not be more thankful. 

He still cannot speak or write or communicate without a 30 minutes charade session. He can't read. 

They came home yesterday. It was so fun to "talk" with him and recount with the whole family what happened that day on top of Galbraith. 

But Roxanne said it also highlighted the reality of how hard this will be - getting communication back. 

Let's pause here and discuss the scripture we are studying this week:

Doctrine and Covenants 117

This is the scripture that says -

What is property to me?

Will I not make solitary places to blossom and bring forth abundance?

Is there not room enough in Adam-ondi-Ahman?

That phrase "is there not room enough in Adam-ondi-Ahman" has become short hand for me Lisa that means: even during the hardest thing in life, even when very bad things happen - God does not work in scarcity. Only Abundance. 

Because FOUR YEARS AGO, when we were studying the EXACT SAME SECTION,

Joe and Roland were going through the hardest thing after the hunting accident.

READ THIS to refresh your memory of that awful time. 

We were hiking along, discussing "what is property to the Lord?"

Is there not room enough? 

Everything was going to be ok. Because abundance. 

So this exact week that Roxanne is going through the hardest thing, living in the hospital for the week with lots of unknown,

Joe and Roland were out hunting. And they sent this picture of their third deer of the week. 

This exact week that we are collectively studying Section 117. 

I just think all of this is the most amazing, most hard, most beautiful thing. 

Look how full circle it has come.

And what does it mean to Roxanne and Vance? I don't know.

 I know that it is easy for me to pontificate about from afar, 

but I also think it means everything. It's short hand for how much God is involved in our lives.

And abundance comes in places where there is so much scarcity.

Day 15 :: Something I Crave

I've been thinking about what to answer for this prompt, and a few days ago I came up with 

"I crave not worrying about my kids". 

Like big kid worries: bad grades, making the JV team instead of the Varsity team...

little things that I can't control that break my kids' hearts. 

I crave the time of life when they were babies and toddlers and preschoolers, when I could easily fix any and all problems. I could control so much of their lives. It was so simple! I didn't even know how simple that time was.

So as I was fixing to write this post about not worrying about my kids, Evan got sick and we ended up in the ER. So YEAH. Worrying about kids is a nonstop ticker in my brain that will never ever go away.  

Thursday Evan went to school, felt normal, went to track practice.

About half way through practice he called me and said his stomach hurt really bad. 

Come get me. 

So I jumped in the car and went to get him. At the school, he was laying on the sidewalk waiting for me. He called right before I pulled up and asked "where are you?"

He was in a lot of pain. 

He was super uncomfortable the whole drive home. It reminded me of when Jim had kidney stones, so "appendicitis" flashed in my brain for a minute. 

But the sharp pain was localized near the top of his stomach, not the lower right. 

At home he was miserable in bed, and then he threw up. 

He threw up again and again. I gave him a Zofran, but he threw up more and more.

My butterflies were in full effect. Uneasy. Make dinner. Don't tell Avery he threw up.

He continued to throw up and be miserable. On the 11th puke, he told us that there was something that looked like blood in the puke. This is after a very empty stomach. 

10:00

I called teledoc and as I'm discussing what is going on with the doctor, I knew we needed to go to the ER. We tried to find every reason not to take him in, but there were only reasons to go. 

But the ER is the worst vortex of space and time. 

Evan did NOT want to go. He was so nervous that he would find out he has a "disease". I reassured him that this was just to be safe, he is probably fine but we need to make sure it's nothing serious. 

PS Me and Jim had been watching a movie - and two minutes after me and Evan left for the ER, Jim said a character threw up blood. The family ignored it. In the next scene the character was dead. Jim said even if we talked ourselves out of going to the ER, we would have gone after watching that part. Crazy right? 

So we checked in. The waiting room was empty. That's a good sign. 

We got our initial triage check in right away. Evan said he had just been learning about triage in Biomed, and since we got in quickly - that is a bad sign. I reassured him there was no one else in line and that's why we were "first". haha 

11:00

He found a bench to lay on in the waiting room. He couldn't sit upright. 

We got called back, scoring "Hall Bed 1". 

Evan immediately needed to puke. We just barely got a bag under him as it came up. I said "oh good we can see if there is any blood in there". But they literally just threw it away instead of sifting through it. ha

It was loud and bright in Hall Bed 1, but it was also entertaining. I watched all the nurses come and go and do their thing. The beginning stage of the ER you think you are almost done. You think you will only be there maybe an hour more. 

We explained all our symptoms and they started us with bloodwork and some meds to help with pain and nausea and stopping any internal bleeding. 

The doc initially said maybe he just had a rupture from all the puking. Maybe we will go home soon. 

I relaxed knowing he was ok and it was no big thing. 

Waiting on bloodwork, this is our best nurse Peg, and the best book "Virgil Wander" and Evan sleeping in the bright hallway with lots of good fluids in his IV. 

12:00

The hours waiting on doctors and techs and orders is long and weird.

Like if you would have told me that I was going to sit here on an uncomfortable chair for LITERALLY 5 HOURS, I would have been heartbroken. 

But you don't know that, so you just keep sitting and reading and watching the nurses and touching Evan's forehead. Cross and uncross your legs. Watch the hours pass. 

Listen to all the other patients speaking Spanish and Punjabi, people trying to get painkillers for a pretend broken arm, watch a guy get treated while wearing handcuffs, watch the ambulance guys roll in an old lady with a heart attack and sepsis, a lady coughing and coughing and saying she needs a pad because the coughing is making her pee. 

Lots going on. So many nurses and their comfortable walking shoes up and down the hallway. 

1:00

The doctor comes with blood work results.

Evan's white blood count is double the normal number, which indicates an infection. 

He pushed around on Evan's abdomen and located the main source of pain right where his appendix is. 

We looked at each other and knew. 

Then he ordered up an ultrasound to make sure. "We don't want to send you home with appendicitis." 

PS the kid in the room next to us was currently also being diagnosed with appendicitis. He was about 5 hours ahead of us in the process. 

Jim offered to come and relieve me, but I needed him to get some rest/sleep so we could swap out in the morning. One of us needs to get sleep. 

As we head to the ultrasound, I hit a wall of fear. 

I hate ultrasounds. I hate trying to read the tech's face. 

I hate looking at the grainy organs and wondering if that is normal. I am so afraid it is something terrible, and not just a sick appendix. 

So I finally asked the tech what do you see, what are you looking at?

She tells me what each organ is, and I diagnosed the tone of her voice. 

Gall bladder, kidney, appendix.

She spends a lot of time on the appendix.

The room was so dark and quiet. Evan fell asleep. I start to nod off sitting in the chair. 

Then another motherly tech comes in and double checks the appendix. I ask about it, but of course they are coy about what they see. "The doctor will have to talk to you, but we are looking at the appendix". 

Please be the appendix. Such a simple fix. Then my brain decides that it is ten other really terrible things. 

2:30

Back at Hall Bed 1, the doctor comes and says "appendicitis". 

And I say oh good! Now what? 

Peggy gets him hooked up to a bunch of antibiotics in prep for surgery. He sleeps while all the fluid bags drip into his body. 

I am getting so hungry. A nurse brings me a hot drink that helps pass the time. 

3:30

More waiting, the surgeon comes and talks with us. 

He asks all the questions again and feels Evan's abdomen again. 

He talks about how simple and tolerable appendectomies are. He's done twenty thousand in his career.

He is older and bald and confident and calm and I love him. 

He says "we are having a special on appendectomies tonight! I've already done one, am about to do another, then I will do Evan's". 

They come in threes in the ER, all nursers confirm. 

Surgeon orders a CAT scan because he likes to be sure before he removes organs, and the ultrasound is only so clear. 

Evan goes and gets a CAT scan. 

5:00 

We finally get put into a dark quiet room.

I get this really great recliner chair and two warm blankets and a pillow. I could kiss the nurse.

We settle in for a little sleep. But then this alarm keeps beeping on the machine. I get up and silence it. 

Settle back to sleep...alarm starts again. 

It is waking Evan and he's annoyed, so I just have to get up and silence it every literal 3 minutes. 

Once you decide, "no actually you don't get to take a little sleep", it's much easier to cope with getting up every three minutes to silence the alarm. 

I read my book and it is the most best book, I love every word. Thank you book, for taking me out of this ER into a "slice of life" other world. 

("slice of life" is a term Andrew used to describe his favorite book, The Wild Robot. Meaning, there isn't a lot of action, but the words describing the ordinary life is the most entertaining thing.)

6:30

Nurse Peggy says we have a room ready in the main hospital, and a time slot for surgery. 

Evan starts to get really nervous about surgery. He asks what it will be like. 

Nurse Peggy's shift ends at 7:00. She gives Evan a dose of a narcotic as a pre-op procedure. 

7:30 

We get wheeled into the main hospital to his room 204. 

Jim comes as soon as Avery and Andrew are launched to school.

Being in this room, I realize the chaos we had been living in the ER. This place is calm and scheduled and orderly. 

Evan is so thirsty. He has lots of fluid in his body, but nothing in his mouth since school lunch a zillion hours ago. He is craving an orange and apple juice. 

Jim comes in, and it's so good to have a team and a plan and a solution within reach. 

He is here to relieve me, but I can't let go quite yet. 

8:00

We go with Evan as he is wheeled to the pre-op room where they debrief and ask a million questions I've already answered, and I hit a wall.

I am starving and tired and my teeth are so hairy. 

I hand the wheel to Jim and make my way home. 

I get home, eat two giant fajita burritos, take the best shower, and get in bed and sleep...

11:00

I text Jim what's going on?

He's in surgery now.

12:00

Jim texts "textbook appendectomy".

No perforation, no leaking, no gangreen. 

Which means he can go home in a few hours!

His beloved apple juice. 

Post op food is the besssst. 

2:30

They are home! Evan is tender in the incision area, but he feels so much better than he has in the past 24 hours. There is a ginger pep to his step. 

The doctor said an appendectomy is one of the few surgeries that you feel way better afterwards than you did before. 

So what do I crave? Not worrying about my kids. But more specifically, not worrying about things I can't control. 

This problem - appendicitis - turns out to be one of the most simple of problems with a simple solution. And I am so so thankful for that. We were there and back within 16 hours! 

There were no complications, no big hurdles to jump. We had access to all the things we needed, quite immediately. Jim and Me were a great tag team. Evan is feeling so good and happy. 

FIVE YEARS AGO

 

It's Gonna Be May

Dang girl, dang. April will go down as the month full of butterflies in my stomach. 

This was before Jim left to work in Mesa for two weeks.

By chance Lisa ended up in the drivers seat of our car in Lowes, and drove us to the movie theater to pick up the kids (from Mario Movie).

Then Jim left.

And Evan had baseball tryouts. 

I don't even want to describe how nervous this made me and him. I hate thinking about it. It's a lot, but I know here on this little paragraph it sounds like not a big deal.

 Long story short, Evan didn't make the team. 

I haven't spiraled in a very long time, but I was a bit of a mess for a week - tummy ache, sadness, crying, anger, confusion. 

I have a hard time with scarcity and not belonging. It's even WORSE when it's my child. 

It was the week we read about the woman who said the dogs would eat the crumbs from master's table - she's advocating for her child and she just needs a little. Just a crumb. 

Scarcity. 

Anyway. Ugg. My hands are sweaty thinking about it. 

I called an SOS to my friends with a text:

"I need a friend tonight"

They were running at Galbraith (I had to coach soccer) and came to me ASAP cold from being on the mountain. 

Jim was gone, and I had just washed my sheets, so we all got in my bed so that they could warm up and I could cry and talk and feel better. 

So, yeah.

Blah blah blah I don't know. It's weird for all of us to be in a spring sport and Evan not.

This is the first spring in so long that we aren't at the baseball field night after night. (Andrew is doing soccer). 

I just don't even want to talk about it any more. 

Evan took it better than I did, I think. He's excited to go mountain biking more. 

Drawn in. We had to draw someone in our family. 

Upside down dog.

Every time I sub in PE Neveah comes and takes a .5 picture. I have a lot of these exact pics. 

April was also the month of coaching soccer. Middle school girls are a trip. 

But I really like my team! 

Every time we are in the middle of practice and it's time to be Be Real, I stop the drill we are doing and make all the girls come and bereal with me. 

First home game, Avery had a tennis match right next to the field. 

This was us being nervous before our games started. 

Here are some cool spring things happening in my forest: mushrooms,

wood ferns, unfurling in the coolest way. 

One day there were so many flower petals on the trail. I couldn't figure out where they were coming from, but then I saw way up high there was a bunch of cherry blossoms falling from the sky. 

After about two years of owning it, we finally put up the badminton net. 

Evan on bass. 

Padden!

We had our first Padden night. 

Remember what a big deal it used to be getting all the way around the lake with all the children? 

This year it was barely even a blip. 

All the kids just went at their own pace and didn't even need to complain. 

Avery and Bea stopped at the tennis courts and played. 

We picnicked and listened to the Lochrides play their beautiful instruments. 

Jim came home and restored order to our universe. 

Today I realized "It's Gonna be May" and played the Nsync song nice and loud multiple times. 

 

4th of July

Wowee zowee July has flown right by so fast. 

(I say that every single year, eye roll)

This year's 4th of July was a sweater weather 4th. 

It has taken forever for it to heat up around here. June-uary turned into July-uary. 

But we decided to go to the dumb 4th of July parade, so the cloudy cool was not so bad. 

I thought parades might have become more fun after years of not going to them, but yeah, they are still meh at best. 

This year all the middle schoolers took off and I didn't see them for the whole parade. 

Look at all my neck rolls there. That's a new development. 

Then we met up at the car show. 

One or two cars goes a long way for me. But the atmosphere is fun. 

We went home and prepped for our street party by buying explosives and wearing bandanas. 

Andrew and Hunter had lots of success at Anter's Shop. They made 40 bucks. 

One of the items for sale was a comic book written by Andrew "Fart Wars".

It cracked me up to see Gus scooting on his scooter while reading Fart Wars. 

Me and Lisa took Roxanne down to the bay so she could see the mayhem for the first time. 

Man, I don't know if it was the cold or what, but I was ready for the night to be over. 

I usually love the 4th. This year...I don't know. I just wanted to go get in bed. 

It has been a weird spring: extra grey, extra cold, extra blah. 

In June when we were backpacking into Baker Lake, Lisa told me and Roxanne that her doctor called and said the results of her recent MRI was MS. She has two lesions in the brain. 

We stopped our walking, stunned. I had to sit down right there in the middle of the trail with my giant backpack on and process. 

All the questions and optimism and pessimism swirled around the trees as we continued on to the camp site. 

She had an appointment with a proper neurologist on June 6th that would give lots more answers. 

 That was SUPPOSED to be the day we would find out about the MRI from the specialist, but her regular doctor called and told her early. Why.  

It smeared the whole week with worry and wonder and sadness. 

The night before the neurologist appointment, I couldn't stop thinking about what the doc would say and how the future would pan out for my friend and for all of us. 

We had been reading about Elisha and Elijah. What a great story. The Old Testament is this new book you might not have heard about it, it's one I have never read, but this year I decided to learn more about it. It's an ORIGIN STORY to the Book of Mormon and to the whole story of Jesus. 

I had no idea. It's just been published, I guess. 

Anyway there is this great prophet Elijah and his friend/apprentice Elisha loves him and does not want to leave him. So many times Elijah says, "stay here, I have to go", and Elisha says "As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee". 

He says it three times. 

So I'm imagining that I am Lisa about to learn whether or not I will be in a wheel chair and whether or not my whole future will be altered, and I imagined that it would be a comfort to know that the people I love won't leave me to be all alone. 

I texted her: "As the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee". 

There have been other times in the past when the world was crumbling down around us (covid, etc) and we declared that: no matter what terrible thing happens in this whole world, it's going to be alright because we will just circle up and hold hands and let it all burn down around us. 

And this is one of those times. 

Then this great prophet Elisha goes on and performs all the miracles and is such a foreshadow of Jesus. 

One time the armies are amassed outside his door, ready to destroy the whole world, and Elisha's servant is very worried - understandably. He wrings his hands and frets, but Elisha knows that there are angels watching over them. He says to the fretting servant: "Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them". 

And that is what you say on repeat when you are sitting in a doctor's office waiting for the specialist to tell you your future.

So June 6 came around, the day we were traveling to Fallon. 

In the morning, I took Avery to the orthodontist. We were driving along, and I got a ding on my watch - a text from Lisa. I had been waiting for news, so I skimmed the text while driving and read:

"good news! .... basically it looks like MS but it isn't.... clinically isolated lesions... for now I am good!" etc.

Avery is sitting there in the passenger seat, and me - I just started crying and yelping "oh yay! I'm so happy!" and crying and wowing and etc. 

Avery was like: whaaaaat is going on? 

and I told her the whole lovely story with the lovely good news ending. 

But really, have you heard of The Old Testament? Why didn't anyone tell me how good it is? 

 

Lockdown

Yesterday we had a lock down at the school.

Now that we know it was just a threat, and everyone is safe, it "isn't a big deal".

But in the moment it WAS a big deal, and it DID take a toll on the kids and everyone involved. 

So...I was early picking the kids up because first I went to the dollar store to get table cloths for the youth activity. 

I was sitting in the parking lot and Avery texted, "we are in a lock down rn. I don't think it's a drill."

She was in Hoffman's class, one of our favorite teachers. But since they were meeting in the PAC, the teacher took them quickly to Mrs. Holley's room. 

She said "the principal sounded serious and scared, and do you know what's going on?"

I told her she is safe and everyone is helping her be safe.

PS there was a deadly shooting at a school in Texas the day before, so we are all a little on edge. My kids didn't know anything about the Texas shooting though. 

Lindsay texted me "we are in a lockdown, do you see anything outside the school?"

I got a text from the school saying "please stay away from the school, we are in a lockdown".

Since it was so close to school being let out, there were lots of parents already at the school. I obediently left the campus and parked across the street by Burger King. I ate Neccos from the dollar store. 

I continued to wait for more info. Lots of Law Enforcement were heading to the school - border patrol was dispatched, police, sheriffs, ambulance, fire truck. Then a helicopter was circling the school. It circled for hours. 

This is the bonus of being a border town - we have quick access to federal help. It was like the military descended upon the school. There were so many military type agents surrounding the school with their AR guns ready to protect. 

It was in this hour of waiting and not knowing that I cried. I knew the kids were safe, but the unknown and the possible scenarios made me so nervous.

Finally there were some rumors and texts from Lindsay that indicated the school was secure (whatever that means? did they catch someone?), and I felt immediate relief. 

Around 4:00 they began to evacuate the middle school kids to the Boys and Girls Club across the street.

A police officer went room by room and led them out of the school.

 Avery texted that I could come over there.

Molly Ernst called me, frantic, letting me know "I see Avery. She's safe. Do you want to talk to her?"

etc.

But I was like, no I have been texting with her this whole time, but thank you Molly. haha

Then she told me she saw Evan as well. 

I walked down to the club. I locked eyes with Mr. Minkler when I took Evan. There couldn't be a better, more calm teacher than Mr. Minkler. 

I retrieved my middle schoolers and it felt so good, but we still needed Andrew. 

Then the police said everyone was going to the football stadium now, so we dutifully headed over to the stadium. I assumed it would be pretty easy and I could get Andrew and leave.

My kids went with Lindsay and the Dicksons into the stadium, and us parents were told to stay outside the gates of the stadium.

From there we had to wait for all of the elementary and primary kids to get into the stadium, then they would check out the students to parents with photo id. 

This protocol took forever, but we were all just patient and calm because we knew that this was fabulous and lovely that we all had strict rules to follow to keep everyone safe and orderly. I think we were just happy to do WHATEVER because the children were all safe. 

But also it took a very long time. And the military presence with the giant AR guns was a bit intimidating for those little primary kids. Plus we all wanted to know what went down. At this point there are a million rumors flying and speculation and people on Facebook being know it alls. 

My phone was about to die, and I knew we had at least an hour before they started releasing kids, so I went to my car and plugged in my phone and continued to text with Avery and Lindsay. I listened to the podcast about the Thai Cave Rescue. It put my situation into such perspective. 

I felt so good having Lindsay inside the stadium with my kids. She let me know how things were progressing. 

She said she just saw Andrew file in, almost all kids were in the stadium, so it wouldn't be long before they started releasing. 

But there was a huge huge line of parents. Should I have been saving my place in line?

Ugg.

But honestly I could not handle standing in a mob of parents with all the tense vibes and weird comments everyone makes in these situations. 

Then Lindsay texted, "I can sign your kids out because I am your emergency contact!"

Woo hoo! I was so happy. It shaved off HOURS of time getting my kids back since she was there as a staff on the inner chamber.

After about an hour I went back over to the stadium with my phone charged at 4%. I heard over the loud speaker: ANGUS DICKSON, BEATRICE DICKSON, CHRISTOPHER DICKSON.

then there were some other names called and I was like "oh please call my kids too", afraid she wouldn't be able to get my kids after all.

Then

AVERY LARSEN, EVAN LARSEN, ANDREW LARSEN.

yay!

I could see them all grouped together under Lindsay's wing. She took a picture of them, then I ran to my car and picked them up outside Rite Aid. 

I drove all six of them home because Lindsay had to stay a while longer.

They each told about parts of their day. Evan and Christopher had heard in their hallway police shouting "get down" and stuff. So that made us assume there was an arrest right outside his room, which is scary.

Avery told me that there was a bucket they could go to the bathroom in, and Mrs. Hoffman was the first to use the bucket. Uhhh what?! So yes, a bucket with a seat on it is part of the lockdown protocol. There is also a privacy curtain involved. This is such a disturbing detail. It keeps haunting me. Maybe because it's such a necessary but overlooked detail. Us poor vulnerable humans. While hiding for our lives we still need to use the bathroom. 

It was a little after 6:00 when we got home.

Jim had cooked 3 giant lasagnas for the youth activity that was cancelled.

Jim fed them lasagna while I dropped off one of the lasagnas to Jessica. 

While there, I held baby Rue and asked Dane what he knows about the day from his police info. 

He got his computer and read all the reports. It was a lot of stuff I didn't totally understand, but a student received a text threat early in the day. The texts continued to come and continued to be more and more specific about the time and place the person was going to come into the school with guns and kill this other person. 

So it was all just threats, no active shooter or arrest, which made me feel much better. 

PS Baby Rue farted/pooped three times while I held her. She knew she was in a safe space. 

I went home and the kids were all doing their own things. Lindsay asked if I could go on a walk with her. 

We walked and processed. 

When I got home, I went to gather the kids for prayer and debriefing, but found Avery and Andrew were asleep. Their poor little bodies took a stress nap. 

Evan came in and out of our room talking about different things and parts of his day. He felt better knowing there was no active weapons or anything outside his room...just the police securing the area. 

Avery didn't wake up until the next morning.

Andrew woke, but then came and slept with me in my bed. 

I watched the documentary on the Thai Cave Rescue.

The doctor of the rescue talked about how resilient the soccer boys were stuck in the dark cave for two weeks. He attributed how well they did to the fact that these boys had been participating in soccer their whole lives - a manufactured "hard thing". They had been trained to dig deep within themselves and be tough and strong. And since we live in a relatively easy world we have to do these things that force us to be resilient - sports, hobbies, etc - that push us into discomfort. That way we will know how to dig deep within ourselves when life gets hard. 

A poignant message for the Larsens in May of 2022. We all just finished an intense few months of manufactured hard - sports sports sports. 

School has been cancelled today and tomorrow, then we have a three day weekend for Memorial Day. 

 We all feel great about being together, fat and lazy, for a few days.