Here’s Teri in one of the many first-day-of-school pictures I have of Cindy and her. Teri was eight years old and in the third grade. I found it in one of my mom’s photo albums this weekend, and it made me so happy. I think it made me happy because she looks so sweet and happy herself. And it made me feel better than I had been.

I had a really crappy week last week. I think I had the flu or something similar. Fever, sore throat, cough, runny nose, backache and everything else you could imagine. It hit all of a sudden and there I was, shuffling around like Mr. Tudball, a funny, little old man who played an executive with a Swedish accent on the Carol Burnett show – Carol played his incompetent secretary Mrs. Wiggins. I felt just like him as I shuffled back and forth to the bathroom in my feverish state -- grabbing hold of walls, counters and anything that would keep me on my feet. I was extremely unsteady due to the fever and it took me forever to get from one place to another, just like Mr. Tudball.

I tried different remedies for my cough and sore throat. I found an old bottle of brandy. It had a skinny neck and a big, round bottom. Sounds like someone I used to know. I had to bend my head way back to get the brandy out of the bottle and into my mouth, but I’d almost fall over so gave that up. I tried the same thing with honey – bending my head back and squirting the honey down my throat. But I almost fell backwards doing that. I decided to drink some “Sleepy Time” tea with honey and that seemed to help a little.

I had a big scare when I went to the bathroom in the middle of the night, all fevered up and bent over because of my back. I started to sit down on the toilet, and it felt like I was falling down, down, down. I wanted to scream, “Who lowered the toilet seat?” Who knew it would take two hands to get down to a toilet seat.

The funniest moment in my flu experience was when I got a glimpse of myself in a mirror one day. I had a blob of something white in my hair and immediately thought of the movie, “There’s Something About Mary.” Of course, that was nothing like my situation, but it sure looked similar. I had inadvertently gotten toothpaste in my hair at one point when I was attempting to brush my teeth. Doesn’t that happen to everyone?

Well, I’m feeling a lot better now and hope things stay that way. I wouldn’t want to go through that again. The toilet seat is back to normal, and I’m being very careful when I brush my teeth.