A Whirlwind

Yay! Super Bowl! This was the first year that I didn't have to spend 3 hours setting up chairs and making food to host a party. I liked it. I went to a friend's house and watched the game with some other friends. This is, I think, the first time in 10 years that I actually sat and watched the game. From beginning to end. Even the halftime show. And the commercials.

Uhhh...what is the big deal about all that?!

Not hosting a party or drinking 40's of beer left me available to actually pay attention. And I didn't like what I saw. The commercials were DUMB, you guys. Also, I found myself hoping for a nip slip during a Madonna trapeze act while Steven Tyler drunkenly stumbled onto the field to sing a chorus of "Crazy". None of that happened. Everything about the game was fine.

Anyway, maybe the uneventfulness of it all was good. I may have had too eventful of a weekend. On Saturday after working for a few hours, I went to my mom and dad's house so that my mom could teach me how to sew pillows. (Oh, Pinterest...) While we were there, my mom got a panicked phone call from my brother-in-law, Chris.

My nephew Alec had had a seizure. He was in an ambulance with my sister Prinna, and Chris had their two daughters with him and were following the ambulance. Could we meet them at the hospital?

Here's the thing. My sister Prinna and her family have been through tornado after tornado after tornado. Every phone call from them is met with a greeting like "Hi, what's wrong? Is everything okay?" So, while the frequency with which we get these calls is disturbing, it is also almost routine.

My mom and dad and I got into their van and drove to the hospital. We have an unofficial phone calling tree, so we made calls on the way there. We got there, requested the visitor badges, and waited.

It's almost pathetically routine. My sister and her family are seriously in an never-ending cycle of trips to the hospital. If it's not terrifying seizures, it's breathing problems. If it's not sleep apnea, it's something more serious. It's horrible. And it's tragic. And there is probably nothing worse than seeing a family member in pain and distress. If there is, I don't want to go through it.

So, we get to the hospital. I see my nephew, who has since stopped seizing (it had lasted for almost 20 minutes). He was so tired and lethargic and my sister looked like she hadn't slept in 20 billion days. It's heart-wrenching.

Cue: Pharon's inappropriate comments. I complimented Prinna on her jeans and tell her how great she looks. I tell the doctor his shirt is cool. I take the opportunity to show my fancy car title to my dad. I'm just a mess of Crazy.

But it's hard, dudes. It's hard to be normal or comforting when every single one of your muscles is tight from forcibly trying to stop the tears from streaming through your eye sockets. And instead of attempting to dislodge the huge ball of fear stuck in my throat, I smiled. Or laughed. Seeing my sister and my nephew so tiny and vulnerable and tired, all I could do to hold the stitches of functionality together was to do anything except cry. So, out come the stupid jokes or statements.

At the end of the day, baby Alec is okay. He came home today and so far he's doing well. He's a fighter. He was all smiley and wonderful and I am happy.

So, although the Super Bowl was pretty blah overall, it was nice to have blah, you know?

I will say this, though. WTF was CeeLo doing at the Super Bowl? What, exactly, did he add to the halftime performance? More sequins? Yeah, because nothing says "Manly athletic game of the year" like a dude in a sparkle gown. Or Madonna, actually. Or Kelly Clarkson for that matter (who, it should be noted, NAILED the National Anthem). Was I watching football or some weird rendition of High School Musical?

Well, let's get started with the week, shall we? I, for one, am ready for it.