I decided yesterday that I was going to quit writing about all the ways in which we have been and are sick in this house. I’m finding it annoying. And if I’m annoyed by it, that has to mean that you all are are down right disgusted. I mean every day a new illness and you have to be saying, “For the love of Pete! What passes for hygiene in that house? Wiping their butts with their hands then eating a sandwich and washing it down with a glass of water from the ditch were their horses pee?” It must be horrifying. But my answer is: Yes, that IS what passes for hygiene in this house, except you forgot the part where we sit around eat each others boogies.
But I have this one more story to tell and it involves the fact that last night I took some cold medicine before bed, to clear my head of that jar-like feeling I so love. I took the medicine and laid down in my bed to die of the common cold, when Sunny came in and jumped up next to me and excitedly asked me to go down to her room and listen to her read. This is a nightly ritual, as she is required to read at least 20 minutes every night for her reading grade at school. Chris and I usually take turns listening to her read out loud from what ever book strikes her fancy that evening. Lately she has been picking these really big, ambitious, sixth grade level books like this one. I think she was inspired by her teacher, who is reading this book out loud to the class. I think it’s just fine that she wants to read these difficult books, because it helps improve her reading skills, but generally her attention only lasts for a few chapters before she switches to a new book. I’m pretty sure that’s age appropriate. Plus for me it’s like getting the Reader’s Digest version of Children’s Classics.
So Sunny reads a few pages to me out of Inkspell while I lay on her bed next to her. I am tired, and sick, and beginning to feel the effects of my cold pill. I guess Sunny could sense my distraction, because after those first few pages she pauses reading and begins to quiz me.
“Now, tell me what happened in the page I just read Mom.”
“Ah, ummm, ah….well, someone got read back into a book…?”
“And what was his name?”
“Ummm, well….ahhhh….”
“It’s ok Mom, sometimes I have trouble paying attention too.”
She smiled and patted my arm, and all I could think was wonderful, wonderful, and more wonderful. Oh, Sunny. Thank you so much for being the amazing, sweet, loving person that you are. When you came into my life you made everything more alive and more beautiful by teaching me how to love in a way I didn’t know was possible. And you still teach me, every day.
This post has made me miss my daughter, Mary even more. She went off to school in Philadelpia when she was just 18 and still lives on the east coast at age 25 and I am here in Chicagoland. :…( Enjoy her now and get all the hugs you can because life might lead your kids to far off places when they grow up.
A very sweet story. Definitely get those hugs in now. By the way, many of us are going through the illness parade, and it helps to hear your challenges and perspectives.