Free at Last

I do believe that today will be the first day since last Thursday that my house will be flu-free. Jace's fever broke last night and he said he actually wants to go to school. He has had enough of long days on the couch snuggled up with a pillow and a nose that can't breathe. He is tired of You need to drink more water, Jace and You have to eat Something!! And so, if all goes as planned, I will wake him up at 7:30 and he will shuffle downstairs, rubbing his eyes, and manage to get dressed and do his chores while I frantically make breakfast and pack his lunch and, thirty minutes later, hustle him out the door.

Normalcy reigns again.

Yesterday was a productive day. I worked from the time I got up until right before I went to bed. It's what I get for being sick. I was behind on everything. Meanwhile, Jace had homework to do and so in the midst of my own to-do list, I shot directions his way: Where's your math book, Jace?...I think you need to sharpen that pencil...Jace! Stop singing and get back to work!...Jace!!

Maybe his desire to get back to school has more to do with escaping his mother than escaping the couch.

I am not one of those moms that believes every kid needs a weekly sick day. There are lots of those kinds of mothers in this world evidently. Here at MPA we have lots of kids that go on sick list if they have a hangnail...or even if they don't! It's kind of like...let's see. It's Monday. That means Jenni will be on sick list today with her best friend Lucy. And sure enough. I don't understand that. When I was a kid? We never even considered going on sick list. If we stayed home, we were sick.

Can't get out of bed sick.

And all of my kids are the same. I don't think my girls missed more than five days combined between the two of them all four years of high school. Maybe it's a genetic thing. Maybe there's a gene that some of us are born with that propels us to go to school or work or whatever our responsibility is. But if you aren't born with that gene, well...sick list is your best friend.

I'm not sure what makes the difference really. All I know is? This family is finally well. We have conquered at last. And so, almost a full week later, we are rolling up our sleeves and heading out the door...

...free at last.