When I was growing up, all of us kids knew better than to say we were so sick we couldn't get out of bed. If we complained about not feeling well, Mom or Dad would always say, "Just get up and get ready. You'll probably feel better."
They were right about 95 percent of the time. Even if I didn't feel great after getting ready for the day, I usually felt good enough to head out the door.
Turns out that was a good lesson for life in general, and motherhood in particular.
I learned to get up and get over it: headaches, colds, hangovers (only once or twice, Mom, I swear), sore throats and more. I won't take a fever or vomiting out into the world, but I learned to overcome pretty much anything else.
That lesson made me a reliable employee, and it helps me cope with motherhood, where sick time is in short supply!
On days like today when I feel lousy, I just keep putting one foot in front of the other. I narrow my focus to the mission critical items and take them one at a time. And I pray for naptime to come and for Daddy to come home.
True, we might have gone a little longer between diaper changes. The food on the floor might have gotten kicked under the chairs a few times instead of being swept up. (OK, OK, so sometimes I do that even when I don't feel lousy.) And the boys may have gone down early for their nap so Mommy could rest, but we got through the day.
Oh, and can I just say thank heavens for Sesame Street and Elmo? As annoying as that little red Muppet might be, he and his friends kept my boys quiet and entertained for almost an hour today. Thank you, thank you, thank you Jim Henson. You should be sainted.
Here's to a better tomorrow.
5 comments:
you guys have been dealing with this illness forever. I hope that it ends and soon!
*sigh* I know, Jen. I don't know which is worse: having all four kids sick at once and enduring five days of misery and wailing and not enough mom to go around OR this -- weeks on end of someone being sick.
Here's to everyone being healthy ASAP!
I'm sorry you're not thru this one yet! It is sooo hard being sick. And when 3 little ones are too!! The whining and impatient temperments flare up! I'll say a prayer that you're well, all of you, soon!
I love Elmo! He has saved my sanity at time. My kids are obsessed with the Elmo's loves you DVD.... I get 48 minutes of relative quiet and no biteing! Which Elmo videos do you recommend?
Abby, we have "Guess That Shape and Color," which is Sesame Street, but has a lot of Elmo in it. We also have "Elmo's World: What Makes You Happy?"
We're at the stage right now where they all just point and say "Eh-mo, Eh-mo" every time Elmo appears, so we're not very discriminating right now!
I find the Sesame Street less annoying than Elmo's World. There is such a thing as too much of a certain little red monster.
Christy
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