Strep Michigan

I'm sitting on a couch, feeling incredibly guilty. The Spirit of SC is out sailing tonight, but I'm in quarantine complements of my fabulous tonsils and the infamous strep bacteria. I am actually feeling better than I have in days, but since I just started antibiotics today, I'm still highly contagious. Apparently people don't want strep throat??

I should have just not said anything. They I would be out sailing right now instead of feeling guilty for having to bail on an already short-crewed sail after taking a week off. Of course, the tape and bandage from my IV might have raise questions...

Strep aside, my trip to Michigan went really well. I enjoyed many great surprises, starting with Nate joining Craig in picking me up from the airport, meeting and becoming godmother to beautiful Baby Batt (Nolan Michael Gauthier), and getting to see over a dozen people who have made huge impacts on my life in the past few years.

Those of you who have been stressing about my tonsils and are once again concerned since, oh, I have strep for the second time in four months...good news! They are coming out on December 10. Kind of ironic that less than a week after getting scheduled, I get strep again. Since I am the anti-hypochondriac, the only reason I even found I have strep is because I am incredibly paranoid about getting more abscesses between now and then. Go figure.

It was weird being away from the ship so long, even weirder to see what a week away during maintenance accomplishes. The soles were redone, the table has holders in the center now, the cupboard latches have all be replaced, and much more that I couldn't fully absorb in the few hours I was aboard yesterday. At the same time, it is great to be back. The crew is pretty much another family, making it great to see them again--especially Sam who'd been gone for a month getting married. Our family is growing again with the start of a new season, as we have 2-3 more deckhand/educators coming at the beginning of September and Josh-a guy who has been involved in with the project in a variety of ways-is staying on through the fall as well. Yay!