So I’ve been home 3 weeks today, and thought I’d let you all know I haven’t forgotten you, it was just that full a schedule for my first 2 weeks, and then something new happened. Here’s a breakdown:
Feasting: I found as many things as I could that I hadn’t had in 6 months (or hadn’t had much of due to cost, or it just wasn’t the same there) and ate those things all day. I hugged my dad at the airport, said hi, promptly asked where the nearest Tim Horton’s was (conveniently it was right behind me. Love that airport) and bought myself a half dozen donuts. At home, it was cereal, 4 kinds of cheese, yogurt, grapes, greek salad, smarties, a big plate of nachos with ALL the fixings, sour cream and salsa, ice cream….it was a good day.
Friends: I expected to spend my first day home recovering from jet lag before my friends from the world race arrived the next day for Jenn and Dustan’s wedding. My local friends had other ideas jthough – we all played xbox, ate pizza, talked about movies, and had a long debate about the best leader ever – Captain America or Optimus Prime. I think it was the best welcome home celebration I could’ve asked for.
Celebration: World Racers started arriving for Jenn and Dustan’s upcoming wedding the same day I got back. For 5 days we enjoyed the natural beauty of the Vancouver area, saw totem poles, ate Gelato and Poutine, went swimming in ice cold water (Kyle and I did anyway), had a salmon 
barbeque at my place, and did as much catching up as we possibly could. Then of course was the wedding, which was beautiful and an absolute blast. We danced, we cheered, we ate, we laughed, and some people we love set themselves 
to live for each other for the rest of their lives. I never did tell the cow story on here from the race, but here’s a nutshell since it happens to be how I met Dustan – we were buying a cow to feed 400 people at the dedication of a children’s village in Swaziland, and instead of doing it the easy way the locals told us we had to seperate the cow from the herd and convince it to walk with us the 10km to where it would be slaughtered, cooked, and eaten. 5 of us pushed, pulled, dragged, and even bit this stubborn, uncooperative cow in the hot sun for hours on end, and by the end 
we were all eager to see it on a dinner plate. Dustan, who had come to visit Jenn from Canada (and proposed to her at that time), initially joined us other 5 guys in the attempt, and right away gave us a memory we’ll never forget. He was put out of commission for the day while we were still seperating our cow from it’s herd when a rope, attached to our chosen cow, got away from us as it ran It wrapped itself around Dustan’s leg and pulled him through the fence feet first like a ragdoll being pulled behind a Formula 1 car, casting the logs that were the fence aside like balsa wood. I’ve never seen someone go through a fence, and didn’t know they could go through without really slowing down like that. Dustan had the instant approval of all us guys right there I think, so it was a great joy that we could see him marry our Jenn.
Re-Settling: For the next week I was running around every day doing errands either getting myself back into things here (insurance for the bike, catching up on last year’s taxes, collecting things leant out, etc.), and helping my sister prep for her wedding this coming weekend. I didn’t have down time until Canada Day (July 1st), after which I figured I’d finally get to some writing on here, putting together my speech for Brenna’s wedding, all that stuff. That’s when the monster hit:
HOW?!: I was bed ridden for a couple days with aches and pains and a progressively worsening sore throat. The glands in my neck swelled till I looked like a bullfrog. When it was clear this was still getting worse, I went to the hospital and spent the morning attached to an IV (my first experience with one of those, and it sucked as much as I figured it would). They told me I had mono. Yeah, Mono. And I asked the same question everyone seems to ask me ‘How the heck did you get mono?!’ No idea. I’ve been in bed all week. Until today my throat was so closed off I couldn’t eat and it’s been taking a long time to get a smoothie down. My fever kept me from sleeping despite being without any energy all the time, and I keep flipping between shivering cold and drenched in sweat. And to top it all off, what I see in the mirror at the back of my throat makes the top 5 most disgusting things I’ve ever seen. Things I’ve seen, that’s something special, and it makes me queasy thinking that that is IN me.
So my biggest prayer request right now is that I will have energy, speaking and eating abilities, and a lack of fever by Saturday. Even if it’s just for the day. I have been looking forward to my sister’s wedding since Christmas and am SERIOUSLY dreading not being able to take part. It’s nearly the most important event in my life to me so far. Hopefully I’ll be back on my feet enough to write again soon!
