Families share...unfortunately :(

    It all started with my youngest niece.  It may have been a little carsickness, she had been strapped into a car seat for about 12 hours (on her way to Florida for our family reunion) when her little tummy revolted.  But then her cousin, my youngest nephew, fell victim, all over my mom’s carpeting.  After that it pretty much rampaged through the entire family.  Our family reunion, a week we had hoped would be spent sharing joy, turned into a bit of a plague.  22 people, half of them sleeping together in a two bedroom condo, sharing beds, sharing laughs.  Of course, the stomach bug would be shared too.  I had thought my own branch of the family tree might be spared.  We were not sleeping at the condo with everyone else.  We made it through most of the week without even a tummy cramp, but alas…  Friday night, all was quiet in our house.  The kids, our own plus two of their cousins, were all quietly, peacefully sleeping in one room, all cramped together, sharing beds, when our oldest daughter came to our room and announced she didn’t feel well.  She looked a little green.  Her baby sister joined her in nauseous fun an hour or so later, and when morning finally came, after a long and messy night at our house, we found out my brother-in-law, sister, and the littlest niece, who we thought had started it all, had spent the night in similar fashion, back at the “condo of infirmity.”    
     Families share, I always tell my children.  I, of course, don’t mean viruses when I say it but….   I guess it is true in all things.  Families share, whether you want them too or not.  This was one week I actually hoped to be a little left out. 
    Despite the illness, our reunion was not totally ruined.  It really was a lovely week.  There were many fun moments between the tummy aches and we did make memories, as expected.  Not the ones we expected but memories just the same…