Tuesday, March 15, 2011

day 64 ~ the shore line




waiting for the flood waters to recede 
feels very much akin 
to how long it is taking
for my daughter to be healthy again


















This morning, before beginning my busy day, I attempted to put up the preceding photos and sparse words. I wasn't able to manage it, though, because there was some funky glitch with getting the second photo from my phone to my hard drive.

Instead, I got on with my day: a mad dash to ready myself, manage my son readying himself for school and taking care of my daughter while getting her ready for a doctor's appointment. It's usually not such an ordeal to get the three of us out the door each morning, but given how she is feeling, the lack of sleep we both had (and have been having), and the fact that she needed another bubble bath for the nurturing factor and to get all of the nasty ear drainage out of her hair, (ew ew ew) our morning required some finely tuned orchestration. Although, I think it was actually more like a miracle.

Speaking of blessings, I have a new found appreciation for the fact that for my almost eleven years of motherhood, I had somehow been granted a reprieve from dealing with a draining ear. If you've never experienced taking care of a child with this particular ailment, then you probably won't be able to fully appreciate just how fortunate I've been. If you have, I'm sorry. For you and your child. This is all kinds of not fun. 

Still, even in the midst of "the night from hell", my daughter managed to have a highly entertaining dream snippet which she told us about on our way to school this morning:

"Mom, I had the funniest dream last night. I was on a TANK bus going on a field trip with school and I was sitting next to Mr. Potato Head. Hamm was sitting behind us. I knew he was there because I could hear his change clinking."

My son and I wanted more details, asking her what they talked about, etc. but this was all she could remember. If there was an astral travel sign-up sheet, I would definitely have my name on the list for sitting next to Mr. Potato Head on a bus, particularly because then someone else would be doing the driving.

Traffic was rough this morning. It is still raining. (The Ohio river has finally started to recede, having peaked at 7 feet past flood stage on Sunday.) We barely made it to school on time, but because the universe has a sense of humor, traffic was a breeze driving to the doctor's office which allowed us to get there far ahead of schedule. 

My daughter sat in the waiting room reading a Judy Moody book. I was trying to keep my anxiety under control because I don't deal well with my children being ill for any extended period of time, so I was just looking at her and marveling that she certainly looked fresh and sweet, and not at all like she did last night in the midst of all that pain. She looked up at me and asked why I was staring at her. I told her that it was because she was the prettiest thing in the room. She said that I was making it hard for her to concentrate on her book. Appreciating the value of a good book, I looked away and then pulled my phone out of my pocket for a quick photo. Afterward, she looked up at me with a look steeped in maturity, as if she were the mother and I was the child refusing to be well behaved in the waiting room. Fortunately for her, they called her back early and she didn't have to put up with any more of my shenanigans. 



(sprout)


After seeing the doctor (we love our pediatrician!) and being armed with two antibiotics, I was able to relax a bit. 

On our way home, the ever funny universe saw fit to put this truck on the exit ramp in front of us, seemingly commiserating with me that it is indeed tough work being a






Surety. I'm not sure that there is such a thing when it comes to parenting. Faith, yes. Certainty, I don't think so.





images ~ misha

6 comments:

  1. You certainly carried the world on your hips today. I hope that the next time I'm faced with a difficult day like this I will remember your lovely photos and words and how gracefully you handled it all and do my best to do the same. Thank you for taking the time to share this with us; I for one found this post very comforting and inspiring.

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  2. Rough day...hope she recovers quickly and that the waters likewise recede. The world needs a lot of healing right now...

    And "mom" should always have an exclamation point in it!

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  3. Meg, maybe my middle aged hips are spreading out so that I can carry more? Or maybe just thinking of it as a result of increasing grace with age will make the bodily expansion something to embrace rather than something to look upon incredulously? :)

    Thank you for taking the time to read about what my life has been like this week. I forgot to mention but those photos of the Ohio river feature a tree that I've come to think of as my first tree. Many moons ago, my paternal grandmother owned a house which sat on the land that is now Bellevue Beach Park. When I was a newborn infant, my young parents brought me home to live with them at this same house for the first few months of my life. I don't know for sure that that tree was actually on her land, but if not, it was close enough for it to now hold a special place in my heart.

    <3

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  4. Heidi, her fever finally broke that same night and we were able to get some sleep. I'm still not feeling 100% and am beginning to lose patience. Who has time for this? :)

    Had a laugh over your proclamation that mom should always have an exclamation point in it. True!

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  5. Wow. That was very sweet and poignant, and I can think of no better example of what a mother, and mothering, is all about. Send the whole word to this post on Mother's Day. :)

    Sydney is a cutie. I'm glad she is feeling better.

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  6. Me, too! I'm not good at managing my worry with prolonged illnesses.

    Thanks for this and all of your support on these daily posts.

    *big hug*

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