Just days after buying our new car, we got to take it on an unplanned road trip back to the heartland (aka Utah). My sister Vanessa’s husband, Chris, came down with a terrible bout of the flu that has been going around. Normally that would be a good reason not to go visit, but this was different. When I say the flu, I don’t mean he ran a fever, had a cough and a sniffly nose, and felt crummy for a week or even two. I mean he nearly died. By the time we arrived he had been in the ICU for just over a week unconscious and on life support.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that if you haven’t gotten your flu shot this year, stop reading this right now, get in the car and go take care of that immediately. I’ll wait for you.

No, seriously, do it now. Don’t put your family through the hell that my sister has had to endure for the past several weeks.

Okay, now that you’ve taken care of that. There was a silver lining in that we got to be there for my cousin’s wedding as well. That was great fun. We’re so happy for them. It was an interesting juxtaposition being reminded of the eternal nature of marriage and how life together is this rich mixture of exquisitely happy and excruciatingly painful moments.

It was great to see family that we rarely get to see all at the same time and place. Audrey’s parents and family were so kind too in helping with the kids. As of this writing, Chris is on the long road to recovery. He’s made great progress, and we are all hopeful he’ll graduate from the ICU soon.

Here are some pictures of our trip (not the ICU).