BrianandLibby.com

As I’ve started to come back to life over the last couple days I’ve realized I really miss my husband. Sure, I see him all the time, but we hadn’t hung out in forever, and to be fair to him, I’ve been somewhat of a zombie lately - and I’ve treated him like a butler at best; “I need ginger ale”…”turn the heat down”…”bring me crackers”…”you stole all the covers.” You get the idea.

Today I stopped at church on my way home to show him the car and realized I was starting to crash (as in, from exhaustion, not like in the car). He informed me that he had hardly eaten all day since he’d been running around. I remembered that although very few foods had appealed to me lately, I was really craving the new grilled twister wrap heavily advertised by KFC lately (wierd, don’t ask…I can’t keep a PB&J sandwich down, but I wanted fried chicken from KFC).

So I decided I could survive sitting in KFC for a few minutes - long enough for us to see eachother’s faces and for at least one of us to be nourished (we were at KFC, so I use that term loosely).

So we went, we ate - and we had the most fabulous date in a long time. We sat and talked, caught up, reconnected, and listened to some AWESOME tunes (seriously, KFC has one of the best mixes ever. I dared Brian to ask the staff to make him a mix tape of it). All for $8.

I sat across that booth and thought several times during the conversation “I love this guy.” He makes me laugh, he is passionate about his life and his work, he loves life, he loves me, and he makes me smile - something I haven’t done all week. And all it took was an hour with him to remind me how to.

I guess it goes to show that it doesn’t take a fancy trip, a four star restaurant, or getting all dolled up to have a great date with the one you love. I guess all that matter is that you’re with the right one.

as of today at three o’clock is…a black 2008 Ford Fusion!

My previous company car was a Navy Blue Chevy Impala and, as an upgrade from my little Mazda Protege, made me feel like I was navigating a station wagon at times. I can barely open the doors in my garage! So I’m very excited to have something a little smaller and, well, more for my generation. Usually you don’t get new company cars this frequently, but the Impala didn’t have all-wheel drive, a company requirement for the snow belt, so the Fusion was ordered for me in November and here it is…just in time for spring

I’ll let you know how I like it later. For now you can be sure I’m very excited about not having to change the oil in the Impala (it’s about that time), not cleaning out the Impala, and enjoying a clean car with that glorious new car smell…for a while at least!

It’s amazing how time flies when you are busy doing absolutely nothing. Debbie and I DID make it home from Dallas on Sunday afternoon. I pulled into the garage, got my suitcase in the door, and went to sleep. I feel like I just woke up, although there are some things to note that happened in the meantime. This has been a rough week for our family and we would not have come through it without the help of a few people, listed here in chronological order:

Debbie Cremeans: Debbie and I had high hopes for our extra day in Dallas when we first found out we were stranded. But when I just kept getting sicker, our lofty plans of shopping, eating Tex-Mex, seeing a movie, and checking out one of Fellowship Church’s evening services became a pipe dream. I spent the ENTIRE day in bed and Debbie stayed with me the whole time! We had a good time. I don’t think I would have survived the flight home without Debbie either! Thanks Debbie - we definitely will never forget this trip!

Debbie (and Vince, and Sparky) Tai: Debbie originally agreed to watch Posh for 3 days for us. Well that turned into a full week, between our delayed flights and my illness! Debbie did not even flinch - she said she would keep Posh as long as we needed her too, even offering to drive her all the way to my house if I wanted my dog around for comfort. Thank you, Debbie! It was so good to know that she was in GREAT hands, and not to have to take care of her when we could barely take care of ourselves!

Val (and Shelley) Erndt: I woke up Sunday around 5 and felt like a bus had hit me. Brian was still out of town, and there was not a scrap of food in my house. I knew I needed sleep, medicine, and food. I could sleep, but I had no food, and couldn’t take medicine without eating. Val came to the rescue without flinching. She dropped everything, Shelley went to the store, and they got my fever down, got me eating, got me medicated, and got me sleeping (very heavily at that!). Val stayed here for several hours until Brian got home just to make sure I kept sleeping soundly. Thank you, Val!

My (super)MOM: On Monday Brian brought me back to my doctor since I had achieved nothing since going to Urgent Care Saturday except for getting significantly sicker. They determined I have bronchitis and walking pnuemonia. Brian wasn’t getting much better, I could do nothing for myself, and he knew he needed to get back to work the next day, so he called my mom and she got right on the road. There is nothing like having your mom around to make you feel better! She bought tons of food to try to appeal to my waning appetite, and she also bought a can of Lysol…spraying every surface before she touched it, trying to avoid the house of sickness! I didn’t have the heart to tell her, but she has definitely turned into her mother! That’s ok, I’m turning into my mom too, which is not such a bad thing after all! Thanks, Mom.

So today I am out of bed and starting to putter around. Thank God today is my last dose of antibiotics because they make me sicker than a dog. Looks like I am on the up and up! Brian on the other hand also has bronchitis but he is still working and doing his thing. Keep praying for two speedy recoveries!

…and I’m still here. Why, you might ask? Well, if you ask USAirways, they will simply say “weather related delays.”

Long story short, Debbie and I went to the airport yesterday around 2:30, dropped off a rental car, took the shuttle to the gate, and waited in line to check in. Once we did, we were informed that our flight was delayed and we would not make our connection in DC. We were also informed that in DC we would wait until Monday night for a flight back to Albany. Everything to the East coast was backed up for days because of, you got it: weather related delays.

Fortunately, Heather was able to find us flights Sunday morning (thanks Heather!), which got us home a day and a half sooner, and left us with a day and a half less to kill in chilly Dallas, Texas. As it turns out, I filled up that time very quickly. I had been sick since Tuesday, and after my symptoms started to get violent in the airport and people started offering me tissues and walking far away while sanitizing their hands, Debbie held me hostage in our rental car (after we took the shuttle back from the airport and got a new one to head back to the hotel in) and made me call my doctor’s answering service, saying this was a true emergency. I thought maybe they could call a prescription in for me. They told me to go to the ER. But I refused, so Brian and I came to a compromise, and I went to urgent care. I love this place - you can check in online instead of waiting for 2 hours. Pretty sweet for an urgent care!

So I’m on a ZPack now (along with regular doses of Tylenol, Sudafed, and Mucinex) and I spent the entire day in my bed on the eighth floor of the Gaylord Texan. I finished a great book, tried to sleep (unsuccessfully), and spent some quality time with Debbie. And now it’s 9pm and I need to try to sleep before waking up at 3 to try to get back to Albany. So I’m going to watch a little more Forrest Gump and bid chilly Dallas goodbye. Wish us luck! Hopefully we will be home soon!

Getting this week to meet my expectations for it has definitely been an uphill climb…to say the least! But the more I think about it, it is still turning out to be a winner. The trip was fine. My flu symptoms gave me some trouble on the second flight but I didn’t throw up and that’s pretty much all that matters to me. We got in and were greeted by Buddy and Nate wearing sunglasses and holding “NC” signs like chauffers - it was hilarious.

Not so hilarious was the fact that our luggage did not come in on the same plane as us. This is the first time we’ve had to endure the threat of losing our luggage. Going without it temporarily is a definite inconvenience (to say the least - we showed up to the first night of the conference in clothes we’d travelled in for 13 hours, and carrying 3 airports worth of smells…not so hot). But the real threat is wondering how the heck I would survive if it never got back to me. Honestly, I started adding up how much it would cost me to replace everything in that little suitcase and, well, came to the conclusion that I need to travel with less valuable stuff.

We DID get our luggage, thankfully, although not until about 2am this morning, at which point I’d already been sleeping in my clothes for a while. When I woke up this morning, I told Brian I was going to BURN the sweater I had become altogether too intimate with over the last 30 hours. Seriously - no amount of wash could take away the hatred I had for being in that shirt for so long. We had a good run, but our time together is over.

Moving on, I skipped out on the first morning of the conference in favor of sleeping until ten, ordering room service, reading a book, and taking a ridiculously long shower. It was glorious. Contrary to what I may have assumed, I think I prefer being sick out of town than at home. When I’m sick at home, no one brings me a big breakfast spread complete with fresh flowers on a cart that I can pull up to my bedside and enjoy at my leisure. Nor do they take away the mess before I get home, or clean my entire room for that matter. I don’t have to worry about any “home” stuff, because I’m not home. I think that I’m going to check into the nearest hotel next time I’m sick. It’s a great way to relax.

But I digress…anyways, I enjoyed an awesome afternoon at C3. I really enjoyed Mac Richard, who I got the chance to meet when Ed Young came to Albany, Perry Noble, who made me laugh so hard I think I peed my pants a little, and Brian Houston, who humbly acknowledged that he is the senior pastor of a church where his worship leader is more famous than him (it’s true, I didn’t even know who he was until today). Now I’m resting up for some serious Tex-Mex. This restaurant sounds fit to be part of the best week ever!

The “best week ever” had a rocky start. Yesterday I spent an hour in bed (while listening to a conference call for work) with chills, aches, a horrible cough and a 100.0 temperature. Thanks to some Tylenol and Brian forcing me to drink fluids, I got up, my fever went down, I got moving, and we both refused to miss the Carrie Underwood concert. Brian was also showing signs of a bad cold coming on - we were quite the pair, but we made it to the concert and stayed ALMOST until the end (after complaining the whole time that it was too loud). We are so old.

This morning we had to leave the house by 6:45 packed and ready to go, which had me a little nervous since I could only assume both of us would be sicker when we woke up (and because we hadn’t packed at all), but we’re both feeling a lot better. Except that when I take deep breaths I cough and it feels like someone is striking a thousand matches inside my lungs. But other than that, I feel great! And I’m looking forward to a sweet nap on the plane. Just had a little Egg McMuffin and I’m sitting at gate B8 waiting for takeoff. I’ll keep you posted, but so far, things are looking up. See you in Dallas.

Here’s why:

• Today, in honor of our presidents, I will stay home, not work, and still get paid. That in itself is awesome. In the U.S. it is what we call a “holiday” but I happen to like holidays like this one, Labor Day and Martin Luther King Day because I don’t travel anywhere, buy anyone gifts, or do anything to celebrate it (sorry MLK), which means I am free to do whatever I please all day (which today includes cleaning and taking Posh to the vet).
• Tomorrow I will work, but that’s ok, because it will be the only day I work this week.
• Tomorrow night I will go celebrate Valentine’s Day with my one and only. How you may ask? We’re going to see Carrie Underwood baby! I love her, and I know it will be an amazing show.
• Before we go see Carrie, we’ll drop Posh off at Vince and Debbie Tai’s for the week. They are “Poshy-sitting” for us, which I’m very excited about for two reasons. One, Debbie’s schedule allows her to be home for most of the day, which means Posh gets lots of love and attention. And two, they have a dog, Sparky, who I am sure will be Posh’s boyfriend and best friend by the end of the week. (I am a little nervous that she’ll love it there so much that she’ll never want to come home but I’m still very thankful they offered to take her!)
• Wednesday morning Brian and I fly out to Dallas for the rest of the week with a few other people from Northway for the C3 conference at Fellowship Church. Good conference, good speakers, good company…and hopefully some naps. I like naps.

Ever doubt whether God still does “miracles” today? Don’t…because he does. Check this out.

Isaiah 43:18-19 “I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.”

It looks similar but really is quite different. This is now more of a true wordpress blog but I was able to keep my precious domain name. Many thanks to Jon, without whom this entire switch (and probably this blog in the first place) would not be possible, and also without whom I would have spent countless hours copying and pasting old posts into the new site…and lost my precious comments.

Not only is my blog hosted in a more secure location, but I’m enjoying certain benefits with wordpress that I didn’t have before, like blog stats right on my dashboard, so Brian and I can compete on a daily basis (sadly, I am not even close to winning). Which brings me to my next point…

Whatever happened to “BRIANandlibby.com”? I guess my little website wasn’t good enough for the hubby, who decided to leave and find his own corner of cyberspace with a good number of followers who probably would have had no interest in my posts anyways. I guess I just answered my own question. Realistically, I’m not at all upset about it and I think it’s healthy for us to operate on separate websites for now. You know, that whole independence and interdependence balance in marriage shpiel. And I guess I’m happy that there’s lots of super cool people reading his blog. Because I think all of YOU are super cool and I wouldn’t trade you for super-hip, jeans-clad, glasses-wearing, journal-carrying church-planting bloggers nationwide.

BUT I was thinking it would really make more sense if this was just libby.com. or libbynotbrian.com, or maybe poshandlibby.com. 

Brian and I have had a rough run as far as Valentine’s Days go. Two years ago, I was home sick, and Brian brought me home flowers and a card…and pizza. We ate on the couch and I almost set the kitchen on fire (I left the pizza in the oven, in the boxes…at 350…I was very sick, and I will claim that the sickness affected my brain). Not exactly the perfect romantic Valentine’s Day you plan for.

Last year we were snowed in because of the storm, which might have been a bit romantic, but we had a little surprise snowed in with us…my younger sister. Complete with a high fever and bronchitis, staying in our guest room. No offense to her, but it wasn’t exactly a romantic evening. I think we did watch a chick flick…but she watched it with us, and every few minutes she would blow her nose or need her drink refilled (we Massey women are generally high maintenance when we’re sick).

And this year? I stayed home sick today (again) and Brian got held up at work. I didn’t feel up to making dinner so he picked up chinese and I ate some plain white rice. On the way home, he got stuck coming up the driveway because I forgot to call the plow guy (my only job today). Good stuff. It is 8:47 and I’m going to head up to bed now. I’m such an awesome wife

But in a wierd way I kind of like our Valentine’s Day “tradition.” Everything doesn’t have to be perfect - in fact, it can be anything but. And somehow, it still is, because you’re with your valentine, and you know he loves you, and you love him. And if that isn’t perfect, I don’t know what is.