Saturday, September 14, 2013

Friday night sickness

It was one of those weeks...
The kind where everything was a balancing act and each night was filled to the brim of people running place to place.
The kind where work was stressful.
The kind where family dinners weren't really existing.
The kind of week that drains you.
So Friday night hit and E and I just wanted to crash.  I took the kids to the park after school, hoping to run off a lot of energy.  I got them a movie on the way home in hopes to just sit and catch up with my husband. We got a pizza for dinner.  Our oldest didn't eat.  She told me she wasn't hungry.  Our middle child was WILD.  He had a tremendous amount of no-nap energy.  Our youngest was doing everything to make the middle child mad.  The sitting and catching up was doomed from the start.
Then the throwing up happened and it was a MESS.  You know there is nothing that humbles you like cleaning up puke?  But as I comforted my sweet little girl who now sat in a warm bath as I scrubbed the floor, trying to hold my nose, I realized that for this too, I am thankful.  I am thankful for all the nights my mom sat and rubbed my back as I threw up and cleaned up my mess.  I'm thankful that now I can take care of my own children the way my parents took care of me.  You know who my little girl wants when she gets sick?  Me.  Why?  Because she thinks I can make it better.  There will be a day when I can't make it better anymore.
"Hey Mom, I'm sorry I made a big mess.  It must be really gross to clean that up, " she says and it breaks my heart.
"Em, you couldn't help it.  It's okay."
"But I wouldn't want to clean it up.  Do you hate doing it, Mom?"
I stop what I'm doing and turn and look at her.
"It's not my favorite thing, of course.  But I would do it over and over and over again because you are my girl and I want you to be better."
She nods.  "One day I'll do the same thing for my little girl."
And I have no doubt she will.