It's 3 am on Sunday morning. I was awoken from my sleeping-pill induced sleep by this wretched cough that has been plaguing me for days. I just could not stop hacking. So I groggily got dressed and drove up to the 24 hour drug store to fetch some Nyquil. And milk and Zatarains Jambalaya mix (that stuff has been hard to find this week-I would have had better luck tracking down Jimmy Hoffa).

So I have come home a glugged down a dose and a half of Nyquil and am waiting for it to help me get some freaking sleep. I went through the exact same problem last night, but just kept tossing instead of taking anything.

We threw Chris' dad a surprise retirement party today. It was an open house between 2 and 8 and we were expecting about 50 people. I think about 30-35 actually showed and Chris' dad was really surprised. He seemed to have a really good time, which was the whole point. Chris' social anxiety had him physically feeling ill, but he made it through. Chris' sister got completely wasted, which is what I expected when I saw how much alcohol had come into the house for this party (Chris' dad rarely drinks, as his father was an alcoholic, and the alcoholism has been inherited by his daughter). It was a really long day and I had to fight not to cough to avoid spreading my germs as much as possible.

I did get to meet some wonderful longtime family friends af Chris' parents. It was the first time most of them had seen Chris and his sister in about 20 years. Chris' mom's illness and passing was kept a secret from almost everyone until after the fact, as per his mom's wishes (she was an intensely private person). With one exception, it was all good memories and happy times brought up and it was great to meet these people.

The downside was I couldn't tell any of them about the wedding, because Chris' grandmother was coming and he still hasn't bloody well told her yet (we won't go there right now). These 2 women had such an interest in what Chris was doing and how our relationship was going after all this time and then one of them commented on my lovely emerald ring...well, screw it. I told them, with the warning that they couldn't say anything aloud until after Chris grandmother had left for the evening. They were so happy for us-it was such a nice feeling after the damn apathy I'm getting from our families. I'm not how happy Chris was that I told them, but too bad. It's GOOD news, damn it. We should be sharing it with whomever we please. Gah-very sore subject right now.

Well, I'm heading off to try the whole sleep thing again. I hope you all are having a great weekend!