Getting Close to 1,000

I've got 15 posts left 'till number 1,000. Congratulations to Kelly who is close to number 3,000. Good job.

Why haven't I been writing? Well, first there was that trip to Africa. I did get back last Thursday. Why haven't I written since then? I'm sicker than a dog. At first I thought it was something I would just get over. So when I tried to go to work today and was worried about loosing my (pathetically small) breakfast, I decided it was time to seek professional help. I called the doctor's office. And waited on hold long enough for me to just drive there and ask if they had an appointment.

I saw the same doc I saw when I had the sinus infection from mars. So far I like him. After asking me a few preliminary questions, he made me get a blood count to make sure I wasn't bleeding internally. (Yeah, that was not fun.) The good news is it's supposedly just a virus and not a little critter I brought home from Africa with me. I have been put on a clear liquids diet. I really miss food. The thing is I'm actually hungry. My symptom is nausea. I feel fine (and hungry) until food hits my stomach. Then all hell breaks loose down there. And then it gets digested and I feel better again.

I did go to work today and was there for a couple hours. I'll try again tomorrow. I'll just take the juice and Popsicles with me. There were no real crises when I got back. Just one small fire I wasn't able to attend to and one that someone else is going to put out. And then I learned that my voice mail is deleting messages without my knowledge. So who knows what's been going on that I don't know about. Oh well, if I don't know about it, I can't fix it.

It's kind of hard to be back in America. Living in Africa is just a whole different state of being. It's easy for me to get back into it, since I lived there before and I know what to expect. In some ways it's a more pleasant experience than my current state of being as an American. I can't really explain it more than that. It's something that's hard to understand unless you've lived in another culture. And by lived I mean a lot more than just a vacation.

Also, as soon as I got back, I started having the back to Africa dreams again. I have these dreams all the time. I always dream I'm going back to Africa, seeing people I knew before, planning to live there again. It just seemed ridiculous that I was just there and I'm already having them again. Anyways...

I'll try to keep you posted on this whole liquid diet thing. Right now I'm juice and popsicle girl. I'm saving the broth for later tonight.