Curing What Ails You

There are few things worse than the 4am wake-up call of a vomiting 5 year old. Their glassy, sad, scared eyes as they cling helplessly to the rim of the toilet bowl are enough to bring me to tears. I feel instant “sympathy nausea” which I always overanalyze – “ooh, I don’t feel so good myself”, I think as I’m holding back hair and administering a soothing back rub. Truth be told, the worst part I admit selfishly, is the middle of the night linen changes, towel washings and carpet blotting.

Well, that’s how I started my day this past Saturday – ya know, the one day of the week I actually have the opportunity to sleep in until 7:45am. But, what’s another night with less than 5 hours of sleep? The ironic thing is that all week long I was looking forward to today - what I was calling “the afternoon of me”. I desperately needed some relaxation time. My husband, recognizing I was on the brink, was kind enough to offer to drive my older daughter to her camp reunion an hour away. And, he was going to bring my son and other daughter with him to kill 3 hours at the nearby supermall before picking my daughter back up (oh yeah, and 3 of her friends that he was also carpooling. You see, I was desperately in need of a little R & R – and I’m not talking about rock ‘n roll. There’s so much “rocking” around here lately as we prepare for “rolling” out our Spring/Summer line that I needed the kind of down time that involves just me, myself and I (okay and maybe my manicurist!).

But, Lily’s early morning projectile party (sorry, too much detail, I know) changed all that. So, there I sat, all day long, trying to focus on relaxing while I was snuggling (not too closely mind you) and watching what felt like a Suite Life of Zach and Cody marathon! Never before did I think I would utter these words: damn those DVRs!

I didn’t get my nails done. I didn’t catch up on my very behind photo organizing. I did no laundry. I did no shopping. I didn’t check e-mail. I didn’t even walk the dog. I spent the day on the couch with my ill 5 year old who didn’t feel like eating, speaking or even sitting up. But, we were there for each other. I comforted her while she wasn’t feeling her best and she showed me that sometimes the best way to recharge your battery and get a little R&R is to do nothing at all with the ones you love most of all.