No Church for Us Today

Phil's alarm failed to go off for the sunrise service this morning.

Looking back, that was a blessing, though we didn't realize it.

The family was up and about five minutes from leaving for church when Phil noticed that behind Abraham's ear looked sore. Abraham's bath had required a good bit of scrubbing yesterday (all boys were quite orange from playing and hiking and general living). Further investigation showed that his neck had a rash, too. We checked his back: tiny chicken pox all over.

Joe had them, too, on further looking. So did Isaiah.

I had a splitting headache (and I am not known for headaches, so this was horribly upsetting). I wasn't going anywhere. But the idea of staying home alone with three rowdy boys with chicken pox, who mostly all felt fine—that did not appeal.

So on this day that we celebrate Jesus's resurrection, we all stayed home from all services.

Nevertheless, he is risen!

So where did these chicken pox come from? Jadon broke out in spots two weeks ago today. Where did he get them? Most people immunize against them, so although I hoped the boys would get them as children, that didn't seem terribly likely.

Here's my best guess. Four weeks ago, the rest of the family headed up to church. Afterwards, they ate out and went to the grocery. None of these would have exposed Jadon to more chicken pox germs than the other boys. They go places together. They see the same people.

But I suspect that someone had their baby immunized the Friday before, rendering the child just a little contagious. Chicken pox is so highly contagious, I don't think it would take much. Perhaps that baby (or the parent) then went to the grocery and used a cart. Later, Jadon, helpful boy that he is, pushed the cart, too. (Phil had chicken pox as a child, so none showed up for him.)

Is this plausible? I have no idea. Sounds reasonable to me, though.

Abraham has the worst case. He was really upset (though not necessarily feeling sick) until Phil mentioned that it is good to have them when young, since when you have them as an adult, the illness is much worse: "Some people have even died." So Abraham has reminded his brothers that, "It is a blessing to have chicken pox now, because if we did when we were older, we might die."

All the boys have been extra dear lately. Joe knocked on the door to give me a little purple flower. Abraham remembers the blessing in a bad case of the chicken pox. (He also showed Grandma every one of the Waldos and all the other things to find in our four or five Waldo books—that 45 minutes was, I'm sure an exercise in patience, but also a joy to see how eager he was to show off the result of all those painstaking hours looking for scrolls or tails or books or whatever else.) Isaiah helped Phil all day, happily doing whatever was asked. And Jadon walked at Grandpa's pace over a two-mile trek across rough terrain, just keeping Grandpa company. The boys help Grandma learn some of our simple recipes, and help her find things in the kitchen.