And then the Captain, AKA Mummy, gets sick and the ship goes
down.
Well it could have. Let me rewind. It was the Thursday
before the Easter break, which also happened to be the start of two week’s
school holidays. Ironically, I had just returned that evening from interviewing
a nurse who, last year, almost died from the flu but, after spending three and
a half weeks in a coma, managed to survive to tell the tale.*That night a sore throat came on and, by the morning, I had the full-blown flu. This wasn’t just your average cold, but the knock-you-off-your-feet virus, which comes with sore throat, loss of voice, pounding headache, complete loss of energy, fever, delirium and all the other usual lovely symptoms.
However, I was scheduled to work from home that day so I pushed through it and began writing up the flu story, occasionally getting up to check if I was the blue colour described by the lady in my story.
Meanwhile, the kids came home full of Easter vigour and excited for the holiday plans ahead. They didn’t happen.
Instead each day mummy got sicker and sicker, one day unable
to sit up to have a drink of water for several hours – which was when the fever
and slight delirium set in. After they’d seen me at my worst, much to my
horror, I heard the three of them congregating in the hall outside my door
trying to come up with ways to cheer me up.
It was interesting the different ways they coped: Miss Six
brought me my childhood Care Bear to cuddle while she scuttled off to draw me a
picture while Masters Nine and Six both gave me their money (which I duly gave
back of course).
But while Master Six kept his distance, quietly sitting in
the corner watching over me, his older brother returned dressed in his best
dress-shirt and stood before me.
“I’ve put on my best shirt mummy to try and cheer you up
because this is the worst day of my life,” he said, to which I burst into tears
again at the sweetness of it all.
His face fell and I felt terrible.
I had to pull myself together so I asked him to go up the
road to get some Panadol.
Several hours later, once they had kicked in I was able to
sit up and noticed ‘I love you’ post-it notes all over the door. They had since
got bored with playing nurse to mum and gone off and made huts, doing a
fabulous job of entertaining themselves
For once, the three of them got on brilliantly and that
night Master Nine stepped up and cooked dinner for everyone for the first time.
It took three weeks for the virus to leave my system so although
we did absolutely nothing for our Easter and entire school holidays, it is a
time that holds a special place in my heart for we saw each other through
different eyes. I was forced to slow down and become a chilled mum, instead of
constantly on the run, barking orders at them. The appreciation was clear in
their eyes and, instead of their usual sibling bickering, they bonded together
to make life easy for their sick mum.
It may have taken seeing their mum in a vulnerable position
to gain their respect, but it was there when it mattered and, as a result, the
ship didn’t sink – it stayed afloat thanks to my crew coming to the fore.
*The story mentioned above is in today's Northern Advocate, or you can read it at:
*The story mentioned above is in today's Northern Advocate, or you can read it at:
Aww Jodes, that made my eyes well up! How sweet are those kids when it counts eh. So glad you did get better babe, and well done for seeing the positive!
ReplyDelete