1 Mother 2 Another

Saturday morning Cora woke up late,
staggered to the couch, and lay there looking wan.


Sure enough, about half an hour later she began throwing up on an
empty stomach.


Cora cried weakly and Brian snuggled down next to her, where she
curled up like a baby bunny. And that’s how he spent most of
the rest of the day.

Cora’s standard fall-back symptom is
vomiting, and she sure put it to use Saturday. No fever, no other
symptoms; just a lack of ability to keep everything – even
water – down. And I couldn’t help but think that this
was just a glimpse of how life will periodically be once school
starts and all the germs come with it.


I know, I know, germs are a good thing. Building a tolerance for
them is important. I get it, I do. But when you’re lying in
bed with your four-year-old at 2 a.m. and your eyes are burning
because you haven’t slept at all because your baby keeps
crying, “But I’m so thirsty; when can I have water?
Please, I just want a sip of water!” as she weeps, well, you
think there’s something to be said for living in a bubble.


And on a side note – sleep-deprived and crabby I may have
been, but I was curled up in Cora’s bed with her spiraled
around herself into my belly, and all I could think of was how the
time was growing closer when she won’t want to snuggle up
against me like that.


Is it wrong that I enjoyed snuggling with her Saturday night, and
was grateful for an excuse to do so?


Cora recovers quickly from these bugs, and was happily drinking
juice and eating macaroni and cheese by Sunday afternoon. For one
day, though, the world slowed down around her and Brian and I got
to take turns simply lying next to her and giving her the comfort
of ourselves.


Which was a little bit nice.