Sorry Mexico, It's All My Fault

The forces of nature are at work against me and I think you're all going down with me. All I was trying to do was plan a trip to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. Really. After I finish this post, I think I'll check my horoscope or something to see if 2009 is just cosmically screwed up for me or I've just pissed off the Fates in general.

It all started two months ago, when I was discussing with two friends of mine what we were all going to do to celebrate our anniversary (they've each been married 10 years, too). We thought it might be fun to do a trip together, since, as my Dad so eloquently put it, "once the deed is done, what else is there really for us (Mark and I) to do?" By the way Dad, eeew.

So we began our research into destinations. Shortly after settling on a potential short list, Mark lost a couple of major deals at work. Not good for the First Quarter Sales of 2009 or his comission. (cue the foreboding music).

We chose Cancun as our destination, a lovely, all-inclusive spot on the Riviera Maya, with all the highest ratings from the various travel blogs and magazines. Within two days, all 4 of the kids and I came down with some nasty virus. Horrid cough, fevers of 103+ degrees, chills, sneezing, aches, and kids home from school for a week solid. Mark and I were starting to reconsider the trip, just too much on our plate. For about 2 days, we decided to opt out.

Once we began feeling better, (and our friends put on the full court press to reconsider) we put our deposit down with the travel agent. Next hurdle: who will watch the kids.

Nothing but crickets... No one, much to my suprise, was jumping at the chance to govern my four little darlings for an extra-long (Holiday) weekend! My parents suddenly had a life of their own. My father-in-law, though well intentioned, has a tendency to find himself napping on the couch at odd times throughout the day. This can get in the way of the care and safekeeping of children, so he was out of the running.

Family is out. Who can we hire? We run down the list of our usual babysitters. Who am I kidding, four kids is enough to drive me, their mother, into the looney bin, what makes me think that any of these ladies would give up the better part of 5 days to manage this chaos? Nevertheless, we contacted one of our regular sitters who is just finishing up her second year at UNC, and she was game. We were a little nervous, but relieved. For the moment.

Upon mentioning our plans to "Aunt Bronagh", she immediately offered to come up for the weekend. I declined. Then she made a valid point in being supremely qualified; having learned the ropes while staying with us for a month after #4 was born. After much deliberation, we finally accepted, on the condition that if she wouldn't let me pay her, I would host a Mary Kay party for her (her new side busness). Hell, I could divy up what I was going to pay the college student among my friends and surely they could find something to buy from the Lady in Pink. College student out, family in. For now.

Two weeks later, Bronagh sends me a text saying that her back is giving her some trouble. Now, Aunt Bronagh is a tough, young Irish gal, all of 29 years old. Her saying that her "back is bothering her a wee bit" translates loosely into, "I'm taking 5 different types of painkillers and still can't sleep, move, or work on my f****** PhD dissertation." But she's certain that it'll be fine by Memorial Day. After two steroid injections into her spine, and visiting several specialists, it looks like she is going to have back surgery. Sorry Bronagh, didn't mean to bring you down with me.

We're back to paying the college student, who thankfully hadn't made any Memorial Day plans. Now we are hearing about the Swine Flu. Cancun is apparently the Spring Break hot spot where the kids from NYC picked up the bug too. And all of us but my husband (who is 45) are between the age range of 20 - 40, which seems to be the magical age range in which this thing is deadly, at least if you're Mexican. At least we've got one thing going for us. Mark, I hope my insurance premiums are paid up.

I think I'm going to go check that horoscope now. Maybe you should check yours too.