A restful weekend

Normally I take the weekends as a time to unwind, refresh my brain, and get ready for the next week. Usually this is a doable thing. But, sometimes things get kind of nutty, and in those times there’s not much to be done except deal with it and let all the other things you’re supposed to do- like blog- fall by the wayside.

My husband left on Friday for a weeklong business trip overseas. It happens, that’s part of his job description. But it certainly provides for certain, shall we say, logistical difficulties when that weekend happens to be the same weekend as the annual Father-Daughter dance at school. Fortunately we have grandfathers who are happy to step in, and all is well.

I thought that would be the biggest challenge of the weekend, until I woke up yesterday to my son- who has been sick for close to a week with a nasty cold- holding his ears and screaming in pain. Being the typical health care provider that I am, I had to resist my normal inclination to say “If nothing’s falling off, you’re fine, here’s some Motrin” and actually consider that maybe he was really sick. Being without an otoscope at home, I had to suck it up and try to figure out where the nearest Urgent Care facility was and just how I was going to juggle that trip in to the day.

Which was fine, until same sick child looked up from his tear filled fingers to point at the water dripping from the ceiling, which unfortunately was not from anyone’s tears, but from what appears to be leak number 8,465 we’ve had in this horrid house. And I just did NOT have time for it, so I shoved a bucket under the faucet that is likely the source and crossed my fingers, and left the house.

I took my daughter to a birthday party, explained to the wonderful mom that depending on the Urgent Care waiting time we may or may not be back by the time the party ended, sighed in gratefulness that she said it was no problem, and headed to the Children’s Hospital Urgent Care. The doctor looked in my son’s ears and recoiled- I recognize that response- and diagnosed a double ear infection. We went to the pharmacy, got meds, picked up my daughter, came home and emptied the bucket, and spent the rest of the evening trying to convince my son that the world was not, in fact, coming to an end.

He had a crying spell so prolonged he gave himself a headache, which immediately led me to panic that he was developing bacterial meningitis, so I spent two hours sitting next to his sleeping form, just watching him. Somewhere in this mess of an afternoon I remembered to feed the animals, so at least that is something.

My point is, although I had plans to write something nice and pet-related for your Monday perusal, I find myself overcome with a case of the “Life Happens,” so forgive me this temporary lapse while I tend to the primary priority in my life, which I am doing with a distinct lack of grace and no small amount of resentment for the leak which, as we speak, is still sullenly dripping into the bucket in the bathroom.