Forewarned: Not Always Forearmed

Today was going to be hard, I knew it beforehand. After enjoying a couple weeks of "summer schedule" (i.e., sleeping in until the kids wake up at 7-ish, having a leisurely breakfast, and then letting The Man take the car to school around 8), we had to get up early this morning to get everyone ready so that I could have the car to pick up our groceries. This day was going to involve the old 80 miles of driving that was so bothering me during the kids' school year, plus carrying heavy boxes of food (not that I'm complaining, mind you! we have food, at least) all while keeping the kids from getting underfoot in a very real and painful way. No worries. I love my family and have a stubborn endurance that takes me pretty far.

Well, due to some laundry problems, The Man and I didn't get to bed last night until WAY too late. OK, fine, this is going to hurt bit more, but you do what you gotta do. That's what I thought.

Then I woke up with cramps in both legs, in addition to the usual pain. Ugh. Ouch. OK, I'll need help getting up, but maybe if I walk around and have a shower, I can handle it, I thought. No problem.

Then while I was in the shower, young Captain Kid threw up. Oh crud, I thought. The last thing he needs after that is to ride in the car for most of the morning. Poor sweet baby.

My willpower was starting to waver as I put on my shoes while formulating a plan for the possibility (nay, the strong likelihood) of my pirate boy getting sick again on the drive. And how was that going to make the food smell? Well, nevermind.

Then the littlest pirate climbed up on my lap and whimpered. As I stroked his head, I realized: "He's got a fever too!" Oh crud. At this point, it was time to leave, and I was running out of ideas. Oh crud on toast.

That's when my wonderful husband, who didn't take even an hour off classes on 9/11, looked over at my panic-stricken face and down at the two miserable punkins and said: "Looks like I need to stay home today."

Whew. Once again, what would I do without him?



It was a good thing, too. Captain Kid's temperature is now nearly 103, though thankfully he's stopped throwing up. Now he just lies there and shakes and cries. The kids have been up most of the night, off and on, and tomorrow The Man has 10 hours of paying work (plus 2 hours of driving) to do. We do need the money, but... tomorrow's going to be hard, I already know it.