Sinatra's I Get A Kick/Tick Out of You

As I read about my cousins' husband, Geoff's experience with a tick in his back, I was quickly transported back to our home in New Hampshire, (cerca 2003) to the bathroom, where Ted, standing in a towel, just showered asked me to investigate a strange 'scab' or 'skin-tag' on the side of his back that he had felt in the shower for the past few days. I mosey on over, not a care on my mind, to see this dark scab and upon closer inspection I see several pairs of legs wiggling! I was screaming--"You've got a tick! You know they have Lyme's Disease here in New England...we've even been to Old Lyme, CT (twice) and heard the stories of death that have occurred in the past from undetected ticks!" I was going crazy! I couldn't believe I had slept with a tick next to me for several nights! I couldn't believe that Ted has been living with this parasite hanging on to him for dear life! eewwwww!

Well, I used some tweezers (any other method you have heard of to remove ticks is FALSE and Old Wives' Tales) to yank the sucker out. I couldn't tell if I got the head out (which is the part imbedded into the skin...and so we called the hospital like two stressed out tick-phobics and they told us to bring it in a ziploc bag and they would verify what kind of tick and if the head was on (you must know that tick heads are super tiny). Ted called his work to let them know he'd been in late and we started to laugh. He immediately started singing on of our mutual favoritest of all singers, Frank Sinatra's, I Get A Kick Out of You, using the word TICK instead. Since this is one of Ted's many talents, I am going to share all the words to the song which he had written within 30 minutes of going to work and had emailed to me. If you know the song, you'll appreciate it a bit more as he keeps the rhthyms, rhymes, and cadence of the song going.

I Get A Tick Out of You

My story is much too sad to be told,

I thought I was catching a really bad cold.

The question I know now, it begs

What the hick is that thing on me?

Straining greatly I take a look-see

And suddenly I turn and see its hideous legs.

Don't kill the ticks with champagne

Rubbing alcohol -- it doesn't thrill them at all.

So tell me why is it not true

That I pull a tick out of you?

It's time to call your MD.

I'm sure that if he took even one sniff

It would scare him terrifically, too.

Yet, I get the tick out of you.

I feel the tick every time I see

The dew, the woods, and the stars.

I have a tick though it's clear to see

I obviously do not have the SARS**

Can't catch a tick in plane.

Flying up high with the West Nile Virus**

Is what the Iraqis** might do,

Yet, I get the ticks out of you.

**Ted always throws in references to current events: medical, political, social, etc.

Some other entry, when I can dig up the photos of Maddie and suffering under a full head of mayonaisse, I will type up the song he wrote in our honor for the horrendous time we had LICE!

(Another Sinatra tune, "That's lice" instead of 'That's life')