So last month was quite the month for me. The first week I was in Sandbridge Beach, Va. Every year since I was probably 2 or 3 yrs old we have been going to the beach with the Maeyer family. During college it was a little harder to make it to the beach and especially difficult when I entered the real world and started flying. It was always such a special week and something I still do look forward to. Quite a few memories from that beach. This year was going to be fun since my whole family was going to be able to come and the entire Maeyer family would be there. I do not think Mike has been able to make it to the beach in about 6 or 7 yrs.
So I got home from work and gathered all my things. Mike and I had decided not to wait till the morning to leave so we could get an extra day in! The drive was nice and brought back even more memories. Sitting in the back seat of the jeep building car forts and drawing lines of whose side was whose. It was always fun until someone got hurt! We were getting close and all the sudden I received a text…. Hmm.. who could that be? All I saw was ONION… oh it was game on. The onion is the Sandbridge water tower and it looked like a ginormous onion. Every drive growing up there was a competition on who could spot the onion first. Mike always lost growing up! So I quickly texted back… GAME ON. He was sitting right next to me driving… It was dark out and a little bit tougher to see since the trees had grown up so much. As we came around the curve I heard Mike yell Onion Onion Onion….. damn it.. he finally won one.
We knew we were close now! That was always our sign. We ended up getting to the beach house at the same time as Jonathan and Jenine. The kids were passed out and they were taking them up to bed. As we walked in the house all you could smell was fresh cookies being baked. Pud was there behind the kitchen counter cooking away! The cookies were amazing! After some catching up it was off to bed. We wanted an early day at the beach tomorrow.
We finally made it down to the beach, it can take awhile with lots of kids and packing coolers. There was a nice sea breeze so there were no flies and the water was a perfect temperature. I was glad that we had come down early not only to get the day at the beach but to spend time with Jonathan’s kids. I had never really gotten the chance to spend time with them when not a lot of people and things were going on. By the end of the day we had caught a crab and Cassidy had shown me some new dance moves!
Over the next few days everyone finally arrived! There would be a total of 16 people staying at the house this year. I was nice and tanned and feeling completely relaxed! After numerous delicious dinners it was finally crab and shrimp night. I have never been informed by a doctor that I am allergic to shellfish. It is more of a self diagnosis but every time I am near it or if my food touches it things swell, I want to barf and get blotchy. So on crab night I always cook my own meal and the kids and well actually everyone usually eats it. This year I started cooking before anyone else was in the kitchen so I would not be in the way. I made chicken with artichokes, capers and sun dried tomatoes with pasta. Ended up being pretty good, not to toot my own horn. I will add the recipe to the blog! My dinner had finished cooking and I had set it aside and covered so it could not be contaminated by the poor crabs being dumped into the pot and the shrimp steaming away. Everyone was starting to gather around the table and the first round of crabs were dumped out. I was out on the porch eating with everyone else as I usually do every year. As I sat there more and more crabs were brought out and people were eating them just as fast as they were dumped. I finished my meal and went outside to call Adam. While on the phone my eyes really started to itch, badly. I would rub them and noticed my nose was becoming very stuffy. Adam and I joked about it and he wanted me to take a picture so he could see what was really going on. After more rubbing and sniffling I decided I should maybe get off the phone and get some eye drops or benadryl. When I walked in the house everyone was in shock. After a little bit of talk it was decided that I should head up to the fire department and be looked at. So my Mom and Heidi drove me up there. We walked up to the door and rang the bell. Immediately someone came to the door and took one look at me and called the EMT. They sat me down and hooked me up to an IV. They took my blood pressure and it was very high especially for me. We were advised that I head to the emergency room via ambulance. When all this talk started my chest started to feel extremely heavy and I felt as if I was about to pass out. Mom said I was slumped over in the chair and my eyes were rolling back….. I think that scared her quite a bit. They loaded me into the ambulance and off we went. I was starting to feel better on the way. They had given me medicine to stop the reaction. By the time I arrived at the hospital I felt a lot better. Just very tired. There they gave me a few more drugs, checked to make sure I was stable and sent me home.
I survived the night in case anyone was nervous and it is safe to say, yes I am allergic to shellfish. I now have to carry an Epi pen around and benedryl. I am not quite use to having it and forgot to bring it to Costa Rica. Adam was not very happy about that one and learned how to say allergic to shellfish very quickly! No mariscos allergico! Then we just returned from the beach and I had forgotten to bring it there and had a very mild reaction to Calamari. I think he reaction was, “ The two places we have been that is all about shellfish and you forget it…” Ooops.Simply,
Meg
