I hope all of our readers had a happy Thanksg iving.

Let’s face it, y0U h ad

L.r-v to do was

eat an( j bg

TOWNthankful for what you have.

Well, unless you had different circumstances like I did.

My daughter, Sydney, asked if I wanted to spend the week with them in Chicago and I agreed since it correlated with my work schedule. Sydney, her husband Alex, and my grandson Cooper picked me up from the airport the Saturday before Thanksgiving, and I was looking forward to turkey day, even though I prefer ham.

The next morning, Sydney announced Cooper had been throwing up all night and couldn’t keep anything down. We sanitized and took care of him as best as we could; because what else does a mother and grandmother do? He had contracted the virus from a playdate a few days before and it was running its course. We hoped we weren’t next.

By 8:30 p.m. the next day, Sydney was sick and I started feeling…well what I described as “off.” I tried to help as much as I could and went to bed hoping once again that I was not next. At 2:30 a.m., I woke up next to the bedroom trashcan. I had it, and I was worried about our Thanksgiving.

My son-in-law said at one point, Sydney was upstairs throwing up and I was downstairs doing the same thing, and we were in unison. It went on for 15 hours straight. I ached all over and couldn’t get out of bed. Alex had to take care of Cooper that entire day and I was thankful he was able to.

Sydney’s doctor called us in some anti-nausea meds that we were finally able to keep down. We discussed how sick we were and couldn’t believe that 18-monthold Cooper was that sick, too, but seemed to be doing better.

By Thanksgiving morning, Alex had cooked the turkey and ham by himself and we only had to prepare a few side dishes and desserts. Sydney and I still couldn’t eat anything but a few crackers, and I was devastated that I couldn’t chow down on my Thanksgiving meal. I was leaving that Sunday and hoped I wouldn’t be sick by the time I had to get on the airplane.

Alex and Sydney said they would enjoy the leftover turkey but not the ham. I told them there was nothing better than beans cooked with leftover smoked ham, but they didn’t seem to agree. There was about 10 pounds of ham left so my son-in-law convinced me to freeze it and bring it back on the airplane in my luggage.

I’ll tell you about my trip to the airport with it next week.