What goes around, comes around...

I think the universe has decided that it's time to return all of the ill feelings I had towards the sick nanny. The week started well, but somewhere along the line karma kicked in, and the week certainly didn't end so well.

I was in the U.S. last weekend for Lynn and Chris's wedding. Despite missing Eric and the kids (and, much to the annoyance of my friends, compensating for their absence by talking about them all the time), the weekend was a blast. I got to see most of the Virginia-based in-laws for a quick bite on Thursday night. I then spent all of Friday and Saturday deeply engrossed in wedding fanfare.

Saturday was wedding day. Lynn looked lovely, the ceremony was very sweet, and the reception was both beautiful and boisterous.

In addition to friends, food, dancing, and cake, the Weekend of Wedding came complete with a campfire. And s'mores. How much more fun can you possibly cram into a single wedding weekend?

When I woke up on Sunday morning, my voice was a bit on the haggard side. Truth be told, I sounded like a man. My parents picked me up at a Metro station on Sunday afternoon, and I spent the evening with my family. Sadly, I was exhausted by the time I got to my parents' house and was probably not the best of company, but it was really nice to see them. (Sidenote that is only mildly related: Please keep my sister in your thoughts. She is healthy and well, but she needs some good vibes right now.) By Monday, my voice was barely existant. And I'd developed a nice cough. I didn't feel unwell, but I'm sure that the woman who sat next to me on the plane ride home was overjoyed to have a hacking, manly me as her seat companion.

When I got into Heathrow on Tuesday morning, I was voiceless and tired. I'd planned to go into work for an important meeting, but it was after 9:00 by the time I made it through immigration and customs, which means it would have been noon before I made it into the office. So I called work to see how vital my presence was...only to discover that project on which I've been working, the one on which I've spent way too many hours and way too much effort in the past month, the one for which I busted my butt during the week before my trip, that project? Oh, that project had been cancelled. Completely. All of my work - down the tubes. Gone. Never to see the light of the inside of classroom.

So I went home.

I went into work on Wednesday to discover that I will likely be reassigned to two projects, one a vocational textbook in carpentry, the other a secondary English textbook. We'll see how those go. I'm starting to think that my dedication to upholding the rest of my 12-month contract might be waning...

I had planned to take Thursday and Friday off to make up for a couple of weekends I'd worked. My boss was still fine with that, so I was home with the kids on Thursday. Thursday afternoon, we were in the backyard playing, and I picked Desi up and swung her. As I did so, I felt my lower back scream in horror. Now I've had my fair share of back problems, and I was a little concerned that I might have really hurt it, but it was okay when I went to bed on Thursday night. When I woke up on Friday morning, I couldn't support my own weight. Every time I tried to stand up, there were shooting pains right in the centre of my back. I spent all day Friday and all day Saturday lying around, hoping that it would get better. By Sunday morning, I decided that all was not well in the Land Of Jenni's Lumbar, so Eric and I spent four hours in the ER while those completely awesome neighbours of ours watched the kids. The hospital folks decided that I'd probably torn some muscles and maybe a few ligaments, so I'm on major pain killers and muscle relaxers. I think I'll be looking for a nice pilates class once I'm all healed because, clearly, my torso needs some serious strengthening.

So for Jenni of the Man's Voice, Hacking Cough, Cancelled Project, and Broken Back, it's been a long week. But my voice is starting to return to normal, and I've been given a large quantity of very potent medications which come complete with 'Do not operate heavy machinery' warnings. Additionally, the kids are finally over their dreadful cold, and tomorrow is Sofia's birthday, which means cake and a pack of very excited children. So I hit the sack on the Sunday evening with very high expectations for a good week:

Dear Karma,

In light of recent events, I feel the need to address the fact that your performance over the past week would most accurately be described as 'Fails to meet expectations.' We appreciate your random nature and consistent fairness in general, but I feel obligated to note that it would be in the best interest of our current organization, i.e. the Eaton-Dixon Family, to have you as a stronger player on our team. Quite frankly, I expect you to be on our side this week. Your cooperation in this matter is most appreciated, and we look forward to working with you.

Kind regards,
Jenni, Eric, Rhys, Ben, and Desi