we sick

there’s something you should know about me before we move any further, because if you’re in agreeance with my husband, this flaw could be a make or break obstacle for us. among a host of other things i do not shine at, you should be warned that i have a very small level of sympathy for people who are sick. i really can’t nail down a solid reason for it; i don’t have a ton of memories of being sick growing up, but i was always well cared for when i was. tomato soup was my nutrients of choice, not that you asked, and i was prone to sore throats that occasionally flowered into an annoying case of strep throat that radiated into my ear drums and turned me into a wickedly unhappy little angel. but i usually recovered quickly and rarely missed school over the deal, and life really did just meander on as usual.

so when we first met, and joey came down with a mini cold that sent him to bed for two days, i was terribly confused and probably as nurturing as a yard ornament because it was just a cold, for goodness sake. but joey takes his sicknesses a bit more seriously than i do, and he also requires quite a bit of attention, to my surprise, and so we learned early on in our relationship that we disagree on very few things but the level of attention and coddling one needs when down with a cold is certainly one of the larger sources of disagreements for the two of us. and while i will honestly say i’ve been doing some self-reflecting over the whole deal, i do still have a ways to go before my nursing status is adequate. but joey, bless his aching heart, has made major strides in the direction of adult behavior whilst ill, and has only rarely missed a day (much less a week!) of school/work over the common cold since i met him.

and now that you know the back story, i will tell you that joey was sick all last week. and like the gracious wife i try to be, i made a genuine effort to inquire about his aches and pains throughout the week and rub his back a time or two to really send home the feeling that i love and support him through his illness, because of course i really do. and as i proceeded to shower him (or more likely sprinkle him) with sympathy, i must have sat a little too closely, because this week henry and i are down with the same symptoms, gol darn it. so today daddy and h are doing their best to cuddle away the barking cough and runny nose, and hopefully by tomorrow huck’ll be feeling a little better, because my poor little man has not a single smile to spare**.

 

**to clear up any misconceptions – and to keep the child protective service folks at bay – my dearest huckleberry, on a good day, can just never seem to get a minute to himself without his mother up in his grill, so when his airways become obstructed and his poor little voice sounds as gruff as a grizzly, he has to beg me to detach from his person long enough to spend any amount of one on one time with his favorite toy the big yellow ring. because somehow when it’s your baby who’s down with the sickness, your heart just bleeds as if the end of the world has come.

(update)
henry took this selfie after he read this post because he wasn't sure anyone would know what his yellow ring looks like. now you do.