Ticks Suck...(no really)...

I have gotten messages from several people asking about Jeff's status and telling me they were praying for him. This is uber-cool on two levels.

Level ONE:

It is always refreshing to know one has friends who care. Makes the world seem just a bit smaller and more thoughtful.

Level TWO:

It means that there actually more than three people (Hi Mom) who are taking the time to read the random mental debris that falls out of my head. That is pretty cool actually.

My brother is improving. He contracted Lyme Meningitis, most likely from some random tick bite a month or two earlier. It is bad enough these little suckers actually feed on our blood like we were giant walking milkshakes, but they also have to go and infect us to boot. No awkwardly muttered thank you. No shared cigarette afterwards. Not even a half hearted "I'll call you."

Simply suck the plasma and jet.

(It makes me feel so used)

Anyway...he is on liquid antibiotics and he should be good to go. The poor guy has also developed Bells Palsy, a fun condition that makes part of your face feel as if a drunk dentist took his Novocaine and, while aiming for your gums, slipped and injected your face instead.

I myself had Bells a few years ago. Every smile was a half smile. I could not wink or even whistle. I had to hold my right eye closed when I showered because it would not close when ordered to do so by my brain. I had it when we went to see the first image of our daughter on the fuzzy sonogram screen. The tech doing the procedure was going to report me for harassment, I have no doubt. I must have stopped her a thousand times to confidently state that I was in fact the happiest father in the history of fatherhood but I was unable to show it because I could not attempt to smile with out drooling out the dead side of my face. After the third or fourth time her reassuring smile turned from gentle sympathy to masked hostility, perhaps a bit of the old 'he doth protest too much'. I wanted to wink at her reassuringly but this would have necessitated taking my finger and actually pulling my eyelid down. As I felt she already suspected me of an unknown and best undefined weirdness, I did not want to pile it on so I just shut my mouth for the rest of the time.

So thanks for asking about Jeff. All should be well just in time to go back to school.

And there will be much rejoicing.

Lousy summer for an eleven year old huh?