Last night I saw the biggest grin in my rear view mirror I could ever hope to see. I sure wish I had a photo of it. I suggested going out specifically to buy the Pixar movie Cars.

Just as we had to see Cars the week it came out, we had to buy the DVD the week it came out (this week). We had intended it for a Christmas gift, but I changed my mind yesterday.

On Tuesday night, Gabriel told me his throat hurt. We got out the flashlight and I looked, and sure enough, it was red. But since he started playing with the flashlight, I figured it must not be too bad.

On Wednesday, Jackie brought the kids to me at school; I had decided to take them to our pep rally because it was later in the day than usual (so Carmen wouldn't have to miss anything to come). (Thanks for the picture, Charis!) After the pep rally, I had to stay late getting ready for my substitute so I could go to a workshop on Thursday. The kids hung out in my classroom for two hours. But Gabriel wasn't himself.



We tried to go to the Cotton Patch for dinner because it's usually fast, but because it was almost 7 PM, (an hour past dinnertime) there was a wait, so we ended up at Railhead getting our clothes all stinky with smoke, reminding ourselves why we usually drive through for Railhead, swearing we wouldn't take the kids back in there. While we were eating, a guy walking through from the bar side with a schooner in hand fell and although he immediately was talking and responding to those attending to him, he didn't get up; the table behind me called 9-1-1 when he seemed to have a seizure. Soon a fire truck and an ambulance had blocked us in to our parking spot, so the kids were left to watch the scene after they'd finished eating.

We were running pretty late for our bedtime rituals, but I did manage to give Gabriel some Advil for his throat, which he was still complaining about.

During the night, he cried out in pain. When I went to check on him, he wouldn't talk. He was wide awake, but would only answer by shaking his head yes or no to my questions. He was trying not to swallow. I gave him a sore throat strip (like those mints, a strip you put on your tongue) and Tylenol. He went back to sleep. A little while later, he was crying again. This time I gave him a Fruit Breezer (thank goodness we had something besides Halls, which he would not have taken). He was up at 6, asking, "Is it morning yet?"

David called the doctor when the office opened at 8. Jackie took him at 11:30 and found out it was strep. Dr. Santesteban said it looked awful. But David immediately got his prescription filled and Gabe was already feeling better when I got home yesterday.

Gabriel has almost never been sick. This was his first course of antibiotics ever! I felt so horrible about blowing off his initial pain, I attempted to assuage my guilt by giving him the DVD of Cars early.

It took forever to get to Best Buy in traffic, but I knew it was worth the trouble because the smile in my rear view mirror told me I was forgiven.