A wedding and chickenpox aren't usually two things that go together, and thankfully they weren't this time either—not quite, but almost. We had gone up to a second cousin's wedding, as she had invited my youngest three-year-old sister to be a flower girl, and my sister to be a bell ringer as the bride was about to come in. I myself was to be a junior bridesmaid. Since my second cousin lived quite some distance from our own home, we decided that we might as well turn this trip into a full-fledged vacation, and get the most out of our traveling.
We had a nice time at the wedding—the church wedding service was very long, with many attendants, as the bride evidently had many friends she wanted to include. I dutifully walked in as the last of the bridesmaids, stood at my place in the long satin dress, then walked out on the arm of the last of the best men, according to wedding protocol. The wedding reception followed, and my family sang a song for the bride and groom as others ate the cake they served.
After the wedding on Saturday, we remained to go to church with the family on Easter Sunday, then headed on towards Washington D.C. As we toured one of the battle sites of the civil war, I realized I didn't feel well at all, and was quite itchy. That night when we reached the hotel, I had a fever, and when my mother more carefully examined me, she realized that I had chickenpox.
However there was not much to be done. We were so far from home that if we would have turned around and headed back, I would be almost over the disease by the time we could actually make it home, so we just continued on. I didn't want to miss anything, so I just went with my family, to continue our adventures together, even in my sick state. I rode the metro, and was worried what people would think of me, with my face broken out, but my mother didn't think many would notice, but would probably just assume it was a bad case of acne. Although I didn't feel too well, I still enjoyed seeing the panda bears at the Washington D.C. zoo, as well the other famous sites around the city, including the capital building. A couple of weeks later, when my siblings all came down with chicken pox, they had a more miserable time of it, as they didn't have any tourist attractions to distract them!
So, would I recommend getting chicken pox on vacation? Not necessarily. But if it does happen, make the most of it, and enjoy making the memory!