Sunday, January 8, 2017

Silver Lining

A few days after New Years our family came down with a stomach bug. I will spare you the details as I am many of you are much more familiar with the stomach "flu" than you would like to be. However, despite the horror, there was a silver lining I thought I would share.

Kaylee caught the bug first. I ended up as Kaylee's head nurse because my husband was at work for most of the day. She was very sick for about two days. Of course, as it often happens, as Kaylee started to improve I started to feel a little off. And one evening I passed on an old fashion and a movie to lie in bed (or roll around in bed trying to find a comfortable position) while gripping my stomach. Needless to say I was hit hard and as with everything, I got a weird complication in that my fevers got out of control and I slept about 20 of the 24 hours that made up Thursday.

Kaylee, who was on the mend decided to become my head nurse. She had slept in our bed the previous two nights (running a sick child to a toilet is much easier when you are next to them) so when she woke up and found out I was sick she announced she would be right back and ran from our room. A few moments later she walked in and presented me breakfast in bed. Of course the tray was a baking sheet, the plate was a coffee filter (she can't reach the plates), and the breakfast of choice for a person with the stomach flu was a easy to digest pile of mixed nuts. And she presented me a plastic disposable water bottle which gave me a moment of pause because we don't buy disposable water bottles, but she assured me she poured out the old water and put in fresh water.

After breakfast Kaylee informed me that if I got sick she would hold my hand so I wouldn't be scared. As her mother I never left her side when she was sick and miserable and it was heart whelming that she wanted to be there for me as well. Of course, when I did get sick she dutifully came with me to the bathroom. I took one look at her face and told her she could leave if she wanted to and she ran out of that bathroom as fast as her four year old legs could carry her. It is the thought that counts, right? By the time my husband got sick Kaylee had lost some of her empathy because with both parents sick, being a kid just isn't fun. However, I loved seeing the thoughtful side of my daughter who wanted to take care of her mama (even if she needs to work on her follow through).

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