Two weeks off for Christmas sounded wonderful. It only happens every four years, and I was looking forward to the break. Until it happened.

A running loop of adverse events. My older son got sick the weekend before Christmas. Two days before Christmas, my car broke down. On Christmas Eve, my daughter and her boyfriend came to visit. That turned into “please drive your brother to Urgent Care before you look at my car.”

Ironically, the car started. Three times. Then it broke down again. Meanwhile, my older son was moved to the hospital. When they finally released him, a friend brought him home. He had bacterial pneumonia. The most common form of that is a type of strep. More irony. strep has been trying to end my son since before he was born. He’s beaten it every time, but it still worries me.

To add to all the fun, the shop owners downstairs found they didn’t have heat. So we had the landlord and his nephew going all through the building a few days after Christmas. The next day, the lights flickered. They flickered a couple more times. I looked at my youngest son, who was upset, and explained a transformer had probably blown.

It sure had. We and many of our neighbors lost power for about five hours. I was still without a car, so I took a bus the next morning to get some groceries, including fresh milk, since ours spoiled. On the way home, I received an email from PPL. The power was out again. Thankfully, it wasn’t out for very long.

My car needed a new battery terminal and new rods for the undercarriage. Bye bye paycheck!

There were still a lot of good moments too. But it wasn’t exactly a restful vacation. I found myself finding things to be grateful for each day, but at this point, I am hoping we get a few good snow days!