two girlfriends of mine have recently had guests staying with them. one of these friends was in a situation i found myself in last year, when my father in law and sisters in law came to stay with us.

what do you go when your guests have different agendas?

sister in law "a" had a terrible hong kong experience about 20 years ago. she stayed in a flea-bag pit motel, had terrible weather and found the pollution and streets teaming with swiftly moving or shuffling people overwhelming. but her love for the triumverate and master seb brought her to hong kong. we had a tacit agreement: NO CROWDS, WE WILL AVOID CROWDED AREAS.

my father in law, rather like my own father, frugal blake, loves hong kong and the shopping. he arrived a couple of days after "a" with, get ready for it, sil "b", who is pretty much game for anything.

we hiked twice, once on one of the outer islands, went to church and generally stayed away from the heavily populated areas, which not coindentally, is where the best shopping is found.

one day, we found ourselves near the one of hong kong's most touristy shopping mecca's - stanley market. FIL, sniffing out the deals said, "let's go!" and started briskly heading to the bargains waiting to happen.

i looked at "a", and was torn. and then realised that this wasn't my decision to make. i said, "i'm game if "a" is." she was of course, and not only did she get some good bargains, but she tried on a semi expensive jacket that looked so good on her that "b" bought it for her as a Christmas gift. definitely worth the compromise for her!

fortunately, when our guests were 180 degrees apart in where they wanted to be, they were family, so they could genteely duke it out amongst themselves and i could remove myself (and any responsibility) from the situation.

speaking of situations - today i took jasper to the doctor. what was meant to be a routine appointment lasted until 2pm, causing me to miss a lunch date, i might add. the long and short of it: jasper is on three medications with an ear infection and the dr doesn't think that he is well enough to travel on thursday. we are hoping that the medications will begin to do their trick overnight and have another opinion tomorrow. the dr also feels that carys' lungs are in danger, so she is on drugs as well, an oral steroid. she only has a chest infection.

charles and i are now trying to find flights that would let three or four of us leave next week. he thinks i should go to the okanagan, i say he should. as fond as his family is of me, they'd rather see him. ditto for sebastian.

so when do lita and i travel out with the soon to be healed sicklies? good question. flights are solidly booked. seriously solidly booked. it is going to take a lot of groundwork to get us on the flights. so we begin making our back up plans tonight, and pray that we won't need them. come on drugs, do your stuff. i think it is going to be okay, i cannot comprehend unpacking shared suitcases and the endless standing in queues to book new flights...i believe it will be okay.

Comments

[knobody]

i'm sorry to hear carys and j aren't feeling well. and more sorry for you that your travel plans are so up in the air. annoyed, helpless, stressed, disrupted, concerned, frustrated, tired, devastated. what a huge emotional burden this must be, and so ambivalent too. hopefully things will look better for the sickies tomorrow. if you can get them well enough to fly, the fresh canadian air should help them heal quickly.

get well QUICKLY little ones!

[Auntie P]

T,
Sorry to hear of this dilema... I do believe that all will work out for you and your family. Having flown before with a bad head/chest cold and plugged ears from diving, I cant imagine how rough it would be on those 2 babes to do it. I had a bad enough time as a 30+ year old .

Worse case scenario is you miss a few days and arrive later on , with healthy happy kidlets in hand.

Regardless, it will be easier for you to turn around time wise as there will be others there to help you with adjusting your internal clocks. Having 2 out of the 4 children done a few days in advance may make it easier on all of you?

I am trying to find helpful things to say here. In the meantime I am counting down the days :-)

xoxoxox
from myself and Mr. L

[maia]

Oh bother... sorry to hear of the twist in plans and hoping the kids are well enough to travel very soon.

[SheilaC]

Oh, I'm so sorry for this last-minute hassle. I will pray for the drugs to kick in quickly. And I know that you will find a way to take care of your babies' health, and everyone's different needs. But what a huge re-shuffle, just as you had it all planned to perfection!
I hope you have trip insurance, or at least reasonable change fees in case you have to reschedule your flights.

We have a children's health checkup 2 days before we travel to Scotland - not expecting any problems, they are simply due for their annual checkup. Now I'm a little worried!

Best wishes and prayers for it all to work out okay...

[Lioness]

Oh the poor things, hope they get better soon. I can't imagine flying w an ear infection, it's hurt terribly! Or a chest one for the matter. Take pics of the triumvirate with you for re-booking and burst into tears is my suggestion. Bad one, right? It's all I have. Have heatwave brain.

[Sol]

Ouch. I hope the little ones get well soon and that your travel plans are not disrupted (too much). Even when you had it all planned to the detail, I guess this things happen and you will deal with amazing grace, patience and flair as always. You are such a trooper.

I will be praying for you and your family to be safely on the way and together soon!

[rae]

Oh tess

So sorry about this new source of stress

praying for quick recoveries for all