A lesson, not all about sickness

A FUN PICTURE FOR A SERIOUS POST -- HALLOWEEN

As mentioned in an early post, all 4 kids and myself were very sick. Unforunately, all sick times overlapped and each person had both the puking flu and the old fashioned influenza. Plus, all 4 kids ended up with ear infections, too. Now all that may sound awful, but the real kicker... my parents were in Hawaii for 12 days celebrating their 35th anniversary. The first 5 days of our sickness, they were soaking up the sun and snorkeling the beautiful beaches. I'm glad they had a good time, but we sure missed them. They went along with my mom's two sisters and their husbands. So, that wiped out a lot of my help. My one aunt comes neary every day to play with the kids, and if I need her, she is willing to help out. My very young 80 year old grandma wanted to come help, but I forbade it. She was leaving for a vacation in Florida in a week. I'd feel awful she caught it. Grandma did make chicken and rice, and bring necessaties like popsicles. We went through five boxes.

Luckily, my parents made it home for the last 6 days of our sickness. The very next day after flying in, my jet lagged Dad helped me take the kids to the doctor. Later that week, my mom got both kinds of sickness. So, that put her out of commission for awhile. I didn't get the 24 hour puking flu until after they got home from Hawaii. So, that was good. Even though my mom didn't feel good she took care of the kids. She literally did my laundry all day long for one day.

Those days were hard. I hadn't been that sick in a very, long time. It hurt to even breathe. The aches and pains were excruitating. I think in one evening I took 3 baths. It was the only releif I'd get. The three littles ones wanted to be held all the time, and I have just one lap. Many times all 3 piled on. I dealt with 103 plus temps on each kid. They each had high fevers for 5 whole days. That is worrisome. I had charts of who took what medication when. Between the meds, diahhrea, puke, snot noses, continous crying, I'd count down the hours until my husband would come home from work. Many times he has to work over his usual 9 hours a day. Then it's a 40 minute drive home. I gave instructions that the only way his boss could keep him is if he had to physically hold a wall up if the company was crumbling to the ground. My husband is a mechanical engineer also with MBA in Business. So, in addition he is the supervisor over the maintenance department. He works a lot of hours over, plus phone calls all times of the day and night, with zero overtime pay and no comp time. Don't want to give anyone the wrong impression. For me to give a request to his boss for Matt being home on time during our great time of need, is not rude.

All of what happened really leads into a much deeper discussion. People who really care. I've thought about this in the past. Truly giving of yourself unselfishly to help another person, happens when ...it isn't easy....you may get sick.....no one is watching...your deed goes unnoticed by the masses...you'd really rather do something else...it is hard work...maybe a real struggle...it's a sacrifice.

In high school, I was apart of a local community group of young and mature women who would do service projects. I soon realized that this group was more concerned with patting one another on the back and rewarding their own good deeds and in the process lossing sight of the people they helped. In fact, many of them held themselves above the "charity cases". I resigned from that group. My point being, there are people who help because they are full of compassion. Then there are people who help only when it is convinient or if someone is watching or the classic, help just enough to be able to say they helped.

I do have to say that I should have called upon some other people in my time of need. My best friend, who lives 50 minutes away, would have helped me. Her mother would have cared for us. I think of them as my extended family. My mom's best friend, Sharon, found out about us being sick after my mom arrived home from Hawaii. Sharon was actually crying about it. She kept saying, "Why didn't she call me?"

Luckily, I am blessed with my family, who lives close, and friends who really care. I do hope that the next time the whole house is severely ill, they're not all on vacation!

Lesson: Count your many blessings, name them one by one.