she not only saw a light at the end of the tunnel, she became that light for others.- kobi yamada

so here we are at the end of the tunnel...the light now blinding us, we're so close. today is the day that steve was originally supposed to return from his 7-month deployment. but he's not. as his flight has been delayed a bunch of times and we're now hoping for some time this weekend...hoping! it's a roller coaster of emotions to say the least.

and on top of it all, we've been hit by the flu bug. the regular flu kind. not the swine kind. it started with ryder, who had five days of 102-104 fevers. then me. luckily only body aches and a sore throat. now skyler...whose virus has only affected one eye thus far, making it red and swollen (looks like pink eye but more swollen and no drainage). ryder had the red eye thing too.

we've named our flu virus the red-eyed viral monster, who seems to be enjoying his un-welcomed stay in the schwedhelm home.

initially i was like,

don't these germs know we have a homecoming to attend in a couple days?

but maybe the monster knew exactly what he was doing and graced us with his presence just in time...so that we can all be healthy by the time steve returns. since my friend, peta, woke up with a sore throat this morning, kiele seems to be the last to exhibit any symptoms. we will see. through it all, we've been trying to stay positive.

flooded with emotions, we continue to prepare for steve's return--organizing, cleaning, making welcome home signs. for the moment...still dreaming about being together again.

p.s. did you know that according to the CDC, the regular flu kills over 36,000 people every year. all this swine flu hype is driving me crazy. thank you media for helping the swine flu hype spiral slightly out of control.