December 1, 2003

• So I mentioned that on the day of my grandma's funeral, I got exhausted. The problem was that I was stuck at my grandma's retirement home with the rest of the family, approx. 30 people. I couldn't find any way to be alone, and ate up all the candy meant for guests, just to stay awake. The hotel was close enough that it wasn't much of a drive, but far enough away that I couldn't walk, especially since there were record lows and high winds.

  Finally, I was about to pass out, and I convinced my mom to drive me back to the hotel. She brought me back and dropped me off, and I fell immediately asleep.

  The next day, I woke up to find that shortly after my mom brought me back, everyone else went to a restaurant and ate dinner. No fewer than five of them got food poisoning! So yesterday was spent knocking gingerly on my parent's door and asking if they were doing OK. Dad was out like a light for the most part. I'd refill mom's glass of Sprite (the only thing she could keep down), and then go back to my room and watch more cable TV.

  They had been to Ruby Tuesday's, which is one of those places along the Chili's/Applebee's/Bennigan's spectrum, where you go to get margaritas and something to eat. The sickies had all eaten the French onion soup ("Sabotage... is a French word!"). My uncle Bill mentioned that there had been something of an outbreak of Hepatitis A in eastern Tennessee not long ago at another Chili's clone called O'Charleys, from contaminated green onions. Thanks, Bill, for freaking everyone out! Everyone's pretty much better now, but we're spending an extra day in Nashville doing nothing, waiting for mom to be ready to travel. Hepatitis is not on the menu.

  • 12:22 am
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