I just got back from a “vacation” to France. My wife and I visited our new grandsons, who live in a Paris suburb. I hadn’t yet met them in real life, and was greatly looking forward to the trip.
But this was one of those “life throws you curveballs” moment. I wore an N95 mask on the plane, to ensure I didn’t bring any viruses to the newborns from America. It turns out that I was the one who got sick. Three days into the trip, I came down with my classic “nasty cold incoming” symptoms: tingly throat, slight cough, general tiredness.
And I was right: the cold hit, but not hard. At first. I was able to spend time with my grandsons (and older granddaughters), and do a ton of walking around. One of the best things about Europe is that those people walk. Cars are almost a secondary concern.
Saturday was our day to go into Paris and enjoy the sights. But I woke up in a fog, with major coughing, and barely able to get out of bed. Scratch Paris (although everyone else had a great time in the city).
I felt better Sunday, and Monday Kathy and I flew back to Dulles. I felt OK, if not great. Then, on the drive back home, the Cold Monster struck again. I felt horrible all night, and again today.
Makes me wonder why I bothered to get my flu shot this year.
In any event, the illness is hanging around, and it’s impacted my ability to write/storyboard/otherwise work on the show. It would be a minor setback, except that we’ve now got some shooting dates locked down, so it amps up the pressure for the bazillion things I’ve got to do to get ready for rolling camera on Episode 1 of “The Body.”
All in all, it was a “vacation” in name only. Still, I’m glad I got to see my kids and grandkids. None of us know how many chances we’ll have to do that. We need to take advantage of all of them – sick or not.
Film prep goes on! Just not as quickly as I’d hoped.
Ah well. As they say in Paris, c’est la vie.