Hi all!

I have been home over Christmas break at my parents' house, and while there I couldn't post on the forums for some reason. I could log in, just not post! But I have kept up mostly in reading what has been going on. I know a lot of you have had very stressful holidays and I have been thinking of you all. I hope things are only improving.

I want to share something that happened to me on only the second full day I was at home. I'm always slightly more anxious around Christmastime, because my sister has always been a bit prone to picking up stomach (and other) bugs, and she is still living with my parents (she's 18).

Warning: slightly graphic.

One evening I agreed to drive my sister's friend to the Skytrain station from our house. My sister came along for the ride. Her friend ("Jen") had a bad headache but had to take the Skytrain and then bus home because she lives a few municipalities away from us in the Vancouver suburbs. She could have taken a bus to the Skytrain, but I agreed to drive her because of her head and I hadn't been out all day anyway.

We put on some music, and chatted as we drove, but Jen (in the passenger seat beside me) got quieter and quieter. She had declined any of our Tylenol etc. because she's allergic to codeine - she said she'd wait until she got home. It was dark and pouring rain out, so traffic was a little slower than usual. We drove and I started to get nervous for some reason. What if her headache means a virus? was of course what I was wondering. Anyway, we got to the top of a big hill and my sister asked, "How you feeling, Jen?"

"A little n*," she answered, and with only that for warning she leaned her head over and v*d. In my car! So many things seemed to happen at once then. I had to keep driving down the hill, but I plugged my right ear because it was gross to hear. But she only heaved that once and caught most of it in her purse, poor girl. I, feeling panicky of course but not as bad as I expected, asked my sister to hand me the garbage can from the backseat and I gave it to Jen just in case. When we got to the bottom of the hill I pulled over to the side of the road and we all got out of the car. Jen was trying to clean out her purse, but I didn't have any tissues or anything. I was shaking and felt a bit useless. My sister called Jen's mom on her cell but couldn't get ahold of her, so she called our dad and said we were coming back to our house with Jen.

All the way back I was nervous she might do it again. Jen and I both had our windows down despite the rain, because we could smell it. I told her I was sorry if I was acting a bit weird but I had a v* phobia, and I even thanked her for the exposure therapy!

But then, when I mentioned the phobia, my sister said, "Hey, I have that too!"

I was so surprised. I had even told her about the phobia a while ago, in passing, and she hadn't told me she was the same. I think she's a bit better than I am with it, but still, when we got home she didn't want to eat dinner, and she took a Gravol "just in case," and just did a lot of the things that I am always tempted to do as well! It was so nice to be able to talk to her about it later and have someone kind of understand what I was talking about!

As for me, I went straight upstairs and had a shower. I felt so germy from being in the same car with her, even though I didn't know if it was contagious or not! I ate dinner as usual, because I have finally learned that I just feel worse if I don't eat. Then of course I had the usual few days of waiting until me and my sister were fine so I could sigh with relief and know we were in the clear. We were fine - I think it was just that she had a migraine and it was so bad it made her v* a bit. Her mom came and picked her up, and I called my boyfriend and my psychologist long distance and told them both how proud I was and how excited that that had happened and I had got through it quite well! I am so excited because I think the work I have been doing with my psychologist, the expos