A Brooks Family Summer (May-Aug 2019)

We had big plans— arguably too big— for the summer. We went to Hilton Head and DC in May, Pittsburgh and NYC/Connecticut/Boston in June. Jarmon went scuba diving in Bonaire in between. We planned to go to California and Florida in July and August. Then BOOM… Jarmon got Salmonella. Not the kind where you miss a few days of work and feel like you have the stomach flu, but some crazy rare mutant kind that got into his bloodstream and shoulder joint and landed him in the hospital for ten days. That was followed by six weeks of IV antibiotics… that at one point wiped out his white blood cell count and left us
quarantined in the house for a week. Then, just when Jarmon was starting to feel *somewhat* normal again (he’s still not fully recovered)… I broke my foot. I wish there was a good story to share, but the truth is that I rolled my ankle– something we’ve all done a hundred times– on the transition to a fancy hardwood floor (in a law office of all places) while doing an interview at work. That meant six weeks with a boot and crutches that are ongoing as I type. Are we a hot mess? Yes, yes we are. We’ve missed countless days of work, parties, trips, events and other outings that we were really looking forward to… but the result of all of this was a forced slowed down… and a surrender to just going with the flow. So we’re finishing out the summer grateful for all the precious family time we never would have otherwise gotten… and also that this chaos ensued well ahead of baby B2’s arrival in November 😊❤️

Hilton Head