Sick Day

Monday morning, James and Matthew woke up feeling awful: sore throats, runny noses, chest congestion (Matthew) and nausea (James). They were lethargic and weak. I decided they should stay home from school. When they heard the news, they didn't immediately start feeling better, so they must have felt pretty crummy. 

I cancelled my work out. I cancelled my volunteer garden work.

Did I resent it? Not really. They weren't very needy patients. They got their own breakfasts and entertained themselves quietly all morning. Was I relieved at the day "off"? No. I would have rather gone for a bike ride and worked at the community garden. I think that would have helped my mental/emotional state more.

I ended up working in my own garden most of the day. That was good. I'm glad I got that. I harvested butternut squash and pulled out the last of the tomato plants. I ignored the okra and green bean harvest. They've been kind of disappointing lately and I had had enough disappointment already that morning :) 

At some point, the boys came outside to check on me. They saw the hose and immediately remembered a game they had enjoyed the day before. I said yes and they ran inside to get their swimsuits on. Feeling better, guys?

The game consisted of running the hose at one end of a garden aisle, blocking the other end, letting the aisle fill with water, and having fun. A mud day. They looooooooved it. It started with just muddy feet, then feet and hands, then they fell down a couple times and it became a full-out mud swimming party. As you can tell...

Yup, they were feeling better. I was hungry for lunch, but I knew that once I went inside they would stop playing. I weeded and puttered and weeded some more. It was good to get so many tasks done. Finally, I told them I was going inside and they instantly decided they were done, too. They hosed themselves off without prompting from me, sorted out who would bathe first, and took turns getting clean ALL BY THEMSELVES. Mud days in the past were NEVER so easy. 

The bathroom was a disaster when they were done cleaning themselves up, but they didn't complain when I asked them to come back and help. They were also SO hungry that they didn't complain about the lunch I made them (which was exactly the lunch I would have made them for school that day...nothing special). Then they did their piano practice and chores, unprompted, to earn a computer turn. This whole growing up thing is crazy. I am living the dream I had so many years ago, and it's wooooonderful.