Days 4 - 6 : The Rest of the Story

Now for the rest of my trip. There were some highlights and some real lowlights.

Many of you know about the passing of our friends' son, Joshua. That tragic event cast a shadow over the entire week. I found myself feeling guilty for trying to have a good time and enjoy the vacation when they were facing such hardship. I had decided to go to the graveside service a few hours away so that I could show my support as well as gain some comfort and closure for myself. As it turned out, my best friend, Kim, came all of the way down to Laramie so that we could attend the service together. It was such a treat to see her; it's been a few years. We had some delicious dinner, courtesy of Newton V's Diner, and hung out with Dave and Patty Turner (hilarious, as usual). Finally, Kim and I went to the Institute Building to hang out for old time's sake.... It was fabulous! Whereas I felt so out of place at Half Acre Gym, when I walked into the Institute, the warm Spirit there was so welcoming and I felt like I had never left. Kim and I shot some pool, ate popcorn and drank Hot Chocolate, and listened to tunes on her MP3 player. It was a magical evening with my best friend!

We were scheduled to go to Casper the next morning, but poor Kim got horribly ill. It's hard to say what exactly went wrong, but she kept throwing up to the point that she was so dehydrated that she passed out. I took her to the ER to get some fluids in her because I was concerned about her dropping blood pressure, and we spent the evening letting the doctor run tests, watching The Office on Kody's laptop, and picking up prescriptions.

I AM SO MAD AT MYSELF FOR NOT TAKING PICTURES OF MY VACATION WITH KIM!

Kim wasn't the only one sick that week. I was really excited to see Bryan, Jamilyn, Brazen, Jace, and Dionne---but they all had a stomach flu that sounded pretty miserable. I was quite disappointed to only see Jamilyn and her sons for about 10 minutes. Bryan and I got about an hour. And Dionne and I at least got to drive to Denver together. She had just gotten over the flu, and it was evident that it was highly contagious, so I requested that we wear masks. It worked---I somehow evaded the flu!