Mom, It's okay.

Thursday afternoon, the bell rang and in came a tiny silent guest. I looked at it with a frown and said to myself; NO! Not this weekend, its the long weekend. Come on it's the Valentines weekend, so what if its a Hallmark holiday, it's still an excuse to go out for dinner.  I had so much planned, family dinner, a trip to the Exploratorium and do some gardening as a family. Gardening, yes gardening and  if you haven't heard;  the truth is a family that weeds together, stays together.  But, now its all going to change, for he is here. 

Fuming at his ill timing, feeling hot as in I think I have a fever coming on hot,  I thank My Little Ponies for graciously baby sitting my girl while I crash on the couch. Siri promises to wake me up in 90 minutes so I can welcome my older one back from school.

It's 2.50 p.m, Siri true to her word, was punctual and so was the tween. He rings the bell, I tell him; "I need to sleep, please watch your sister." He agrees, I thank him and crash again.  But wait, I am a Mom, am I allowed to fall sick? Whose going to cover the two hour Tae Kwon Do class in the evening, and what about dinner.  The thoughts don't stop there, they move forward to Friday, I had promised a 5 year old a trip to the park with her friends, and then we had piano, Taeko again followed by a dance rehearsal.  

I drag myself up and hold my head tightly as it desperately tries to spin off the neck.  The clutter clatter of the pans in the kitchen draws his attention and he asks "Mom, are you feeling better? I thought you wanted to sleep." I say, "yes I did, but then you have Taeko and its almost dinner time." He gets up, comes to me and says "It's okay, you can rest. We can handle it." LOL is what I want to do, and I think he read my mind. He forces me to lie down and assures me that he will take care of it and besides he says, "daddy will be home in an hour." I lie down, close my eyes and voices fade away.  I sleep and sleep more for the next three days and play a gracious host to the microscopic secretive guest. Every time he visits, he looks different. He says he likes trying new styles but then who doesn't for there is fashion galore to choose from for size 0 and below.  

I have to admit,  through the headaches, coughs and fever I could not help but ponder about what they were doing. All the noise surely meant the downstairs must be trashed. I irked at the thought of going downstairs and seeing the mess. For me to not know what the kids were doing, what were they eating, and how were they handling it in general was proving to be very difficult, so I call out to my husband and ask him, he laughingly says, "don't worry they are having a blast. You get some rest." 

Having a blast, when I am sick. Don't they miss their mom, and you can imagine the rest of the emotional emotions that I ran through.  After being "treated" for almost four days now, the out-of-towner decides to leave and I take a deep breath. 

Here's what I learned this last week: 

1) When sick, do not try to be a mighty mommy. 

2) I need to trust my upbringing more. Every parent teaches their kids to be independent and yet when opportunity comes, we hesitate to trust them with it.  But then no one said parenthood would be easy. 

3) Kids are more resilient than adults.  Kids are amazing, they adapt to situations so much better than adults. This last week, I saw Tom and Jerry take care of each other like never before. Tom fed her, bathed her and even read a story :)  

4) Dad's deserve a lot more credit than we give them. They have their own way of taking care of things. When dad can't find a glue stick at homework time, he uses super glue.  It's not what a mom would do, but the job gets done, and that's all that matters. 

5) It's okay to let everything just be and take care of itself.  This for me is the hardest, but I am learning. 

Moral of the story; .When mom's fall sick, the world may not spin as miraculously, but it will continue to spin.  

Mom's aren't allowed to fall sick, is so yesterday. 

Today; Mom, it's okay you can fall sick.