Welcome to 2025! I have to admit…I had a pretty rough end to 2024, and I thought I was doing really well until…dun, dun duuuuuunnnn. The cooties found and attacked me!
I had tons of stuff planned for the month of December. The ballet, working at a Christmas pop-up bar, spending time with family and friends – to include a 3-day cookie and goody baking marathon with my mother. I was hosting both Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas morning breakfast. Everything was going along at top-notch speed (probably because I was working double shifts at the ranch, pop-up bar). I was getting a bit tired but still loving the excitement of the holidays. So, what happened? I’m glad you asked…..The Nutcracker happened!
There I was, ready to watch the Kansas City Ballet Company’s rendition of The Nutcracker. This is an annual tradition with me and my two girls. I tried to switch it up and get them to go to the Hip-Hop Nutcracker, but it was no-go from both of them. I tried. The venue for the ballet was the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. It’s a beautiful building – perfect for The Nutcracker. However, the seating leaves much to be desired. If you’re over 6 foot, you will be extremely uncomfortable as your knees will most likely be in your nostrils. The seats are literally right on top of each other as well. The person sitting in front of you can turn around and hit your knees with their nose (that is, if your knees are not in your nostrils). It makes it nice to not have to worry about someone’s head blocking your view but it keeps you on your toes if you don’t want to get kicked in the head by the person sitting behind you. To top it off – it was extremely warm in the auditorium. Sooooo, batting 1000 at The Nutcracker. And then…there were 2 ladies that brought a few little girls and they all sat in the row behind me. To my left, in the same row, was a family consisting of the mom, dad, twin girls (approx 12 years old) and a little boy (maybe 7 years old). First act of The Nutcracker begins. 15 minutes in and my seat keeps getting kicked by what I assume to be one of the little girls behind me. At least she wasn’t kicking my head but I was starting to get annoyed. Upon intermission I was going to turn around and give her a stern look so she knew I meant business, right? Uhmmmmmmm, so the thing is…….Once the lights were brought up, I turned around and my eyes were directly at the adult woman’s knees. Yep, an adult was kicking my chair but that’s not the worst part. This was an adult lady, wearing a dress who did not know how to sit like a lady in a dress! Now, remember what I told you about the location of everyone’s body parts with relation to the seats?!?!?! Yep – you guessed it. Her legs were spread wide open in that seat and let’s just say she needed to ask Santa for some panties to be under her Christmas tree! I was dumbfounded! I looked like Phobe from Friends yelling “My Eyes!” My daughter looked over at me to see what I was doing, and I whispered in her ear what was going on (and why I was making the face I was making). She briefly glanced behind me, gasped, and then said, (hussy!). And there you have it folks…Act 1. Now, on to Act II.
The family to the left of me was fairly quiet through the first act but the second act was completely different. During intermission the mom told me that the dad and little boy were ready to go home even though it was the dad’s suggestion to see the ballet. When the second act started, the little boy could not sit still or be quiet. But then, it got worse…he started coughing non-stop. I’m not talking about the dry coughs. Oh – no, no, no. This kid was coughing up his lung by the end of the ballet. But – do you think his parents took him out of the auditorium to get him something to drink or so everyone else around them could hear the music? Noooooooooooo! Every once in a while, I would lean over to tell my daughters that we needed to take our Elderberry sips and Zicam immeditaely when we got home! There I was trying to watch The Nutcracker but I was doing it with the Garbage Pail Kids!
Next up – The Jolly Country Pop-Up Bar. I was a server and a bartender during the month of December and was having a great time! I met so many wonderful people! If you weren’t in the holiday spirit before getting to the ranch, you definitely were within 15 minutes of stating your shift. It was fun……except…..I was working a private party for a senior living community. These 55-years old and older individuals would be moving into their spaces soon and the owners held a Christmas Party at The Ranch. Some of the individuals were much older than 55 but it was great to see them having such a good time. As the party was coming to an end, one particular gentlemen stood up from his chair and just stood there. I wasn’t but 6 feet away from him when I smelled the most foul, pungent odor I had smelled in quite a long time. I looked over at the gentlemen and he had soiled himself. AND – it ran out of his pants leg onto the floor. This gentleman walked very slow to the bathroom and when he came out, the smell was worse. No one from the company or the individuals that were with him said anything about it. There was NO WAY they didn’t notice. Myself and another coworker had to put a perimeter around the mess so that no one else stepped in it. We then had to go about cleaning it up. That night…not so Jolly at the Jolly Pop-Up Bar!
It was the week before Christmas and I wasn’t feeling the best. My throat was sore and my body ached. The Sunday evening before Christmas I was feeling miserable. I had the worst migraine I’d ever had, I had a temp of 103 and everything just hurt…my hair hurt! I didn’t go into urgent care until Tuesday but I couldn’t take it anymore. At this point it felt like I had swallowed a million hot pokers. My throat was on fire. I couldn’t even drink tea my throat hurt so bad. So, I get to urgent care and they do all the tests, sticking things down my throat, up my nose – you name it. The doctor came in and said I didn’t have strep throat and that shocked me. But – we were still waiting for the results from the other tests. I was miserable while I waited but they had Christmas movies playing in all the rooms. The doctor came back in and asked me if I had always been an over achiever. My response was, “Excuse me?” She then proceeded to tell me that I had the flu AND Covid….AND – there was nothing they could give me. I just had to wait it out and keep taking Tylenol, NyQuil, etc. Additionally, this meant I could not work my remaining shifts at the ranch and I couldn’t host Christmas Eve or morning as I didn’t know how my daughters would be feeling. So, the Cooper Christmas Cootie Case – Who Done it. What do you think? Was it the coughing kid at the Nutcracker or one of the individuals in the more than 500 reservations in 17 days that we had at the pop-up? I’m not for sure but I can tell you this…next year I’ll be wearing a HAZMAT suit for the entire month of December and will have blinders on when I go to the Nutcracker!
Here’s to 2025 – it’s gonna be great! Let’s go Chiefs!
Until next time…xoxo,
Tracy
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