Today marks exactly two weeks of being sick. I thought I was on the mend on Friday when I went the entire day without a single coughing fit. But the coughing has still persisted. My inability to speak full sentences in my natural voice is driving me crazy. And yesterday, after dinner and a single sip of Chris’s beer, I ended up vomiting part of dinner and all of that one sip of beer. That was not fun.

I took a walk today during the weekday for the very first time since I got sick two weeks ago, and did a quick trip to Trader Joe’s. I hadn’t been here in about 2.5 weeks, and I had missed it. I realized that some of the things I wanted to pick up were not there, like my usual Ritz-like crackers. But I did pick up a few items that were new for me, like the mushroom umami seasoning and the cocoa batons, to add some variety to our snack rotation, and to the seasonings I use on the Pookster’s lunch vegetables. The fun thing about Trader Joe’s is that they always have new products that are worth testing out. The frustrating part about Trader Joe’s is that sometimes, those fun products get pulled from the shelves quite quickly, so you can’t really ever get too attached to any one thing. Chris asked me to buy these animal crackers that were coated with chocolate on one side today that he remembered buying and liking back in 2016. I told him that I doubted they’d still be in stock. And well, I was right: the only animal crackers on the shelves were the sad, plain ones. He was not pleased.

And now my body is aching again. What is wrong with me, really, and how is it even possible I am still sick after two weeks??? It was amazing I got through an hour long meeting today where I did the majority of the talking — good thing for the mute button!