sick

Last week was, to say the least, busy.

To start things off, Ben got way, way sicker than I did and was knocked off his feet for almost a week. To give you an idea of how bad this virus was that hit us, the coworker who got it from Ben is now laid up in the hospital.

Strangely, on the day that Ben was at his lowest point, he got two emails: one from an online mixed martial arts site Cage Potato and the other from none other than Sports Illustrated. Both publications had read Ben’s stuff and were looking to get in on the goods before someone else did. Within the week, Ben 1) accepted a full time job as editor of Cage Potato 2) accepted a steady freelancing gig with Sports Illustrated (non-sports fans: this is huge) and 3) slowly, slowly recovered from the superbug that was eating him alive.

What does that mean for us? Since both Cage Potato and Sports Illustrated don’t give a damn where Ben writes from as long as he writes for them, and since my freelance business is chugging along more smoothly than I could have ever expected, we are planning to return to Montana in the next few months. Yes, Montana - where you can get an entire burger for a buck and where you can actually see the stars at night.

As you might guess, I’m stupendously excited. Aside from the 24-hour takeout options, New York City and I never quite got along. I know I should have realized this going in, but the capital of the world is loud, crowded, dirty, and depressing. And with spring coming, I can only think about the fun I could be having if only we had a backyard, a grill, and a whiffle ball set.  And did I mention Ben is going to write for Sports Illustrated?

The tentative plan involves selling most of our crap, buying a truck, and leaving by mid- June or July — right around the time that the garbage on the sidewalks of the city starts rotting in the heat. This plan also involves buying a house in our much-loved and much-missed Missoula and perhaps even adopting a puppy. Although I think we have a handle on the puppy-buying process, we’re a bit lost when it comes to purchasing a house. I bet we’ll figure it out, though.

I’m looking forward to all of it - the money we’re making will go so, so much farther in Montana (the basic conversion is that the cost of one beer in New York is equal to the cost of one pitcher in Missoula) and seeing the mountains again sounds like just what I need.

I woke up sick this morning - it feels a lot like someone stuffed my sinuses with cement and sandpapered my throat. And if that wasn’t bad enough, upon realizing that I wasn’t up to doing much, I also realized that I had to. Deadlines hovered, money needed to be made, and emails and calls had to be answered.

So let’s add “no paid sick days” to the short list of reasons that this new business thing isn’t 100% perfect, not to mention that the only upside of being sick at all is that you’re supposed to get to stay home from work and watch DVDs and The Price Is Right.

On the other hand, I no longer have to physically call in sick, which I always hated - it was one of those things where I felt like I was faking it even when I wasn’t. There was that need to act extra nasally and extra miserable, as if I really, really wanted to come in and fill in some spreadsheets, and I truly would, except that I was probably going to die within the next few hours.

And even though I had to work, I did get to take some mini-naps, make myself soup, and break my work into smaller chunks.