Silence...

I can't say a word.

Literally, I can't say anything. When the phone rings on my desk at work I have to let it go to voicemail because I can't talk.

I have something that seems to resemble Laryngitis. This is a first for me I believe and it's a first that is driving me absolutely crazy. It's not exactly convenient for someone in communications to lose an element of routine. (Not that it stopped me from trying with co-workers).

It's horrible timing too. We are scheduled to head up to Milwaukee for a meeting tomorrow. I can just see how this is going to go. I'll have to take my little dry erase board so I can communicate with TSA. Of course they'll probably confiscate my marker because they'll consider it a hazard. You can't take water on the plane, why would they allow a marker that essentially gets people high?

With my marker in the "No-No" bucket at MCI I'll be forced to quickly pick up sign language. It's a good thing that I was taught the alphabet last month by a four-year-old during the finals of a volleyball tournament on an iTouch. Of course by the time I spell my name mid-air during the introductions Brett Favre will retire and un-retire three more times.

I digress. The biggest question mark of the night comes from my own mother. She knows I have no voice and even gave me a quick email giving me the 4-1-1 on what I should do so I feel better. I believe her first bullet was REST.

So she calls me.

"You didn't respond to my e-mail," she says.

"I didn't have anything to say," I squeak.