Winter woes

"All day, staring at the ceiling,
Making friends with shadows on my wall.
All night, hearing voices telling me
That I should get some sleep
Because tomorrow might be good for something."

-- Unwell, Matchbox 20



I woke up today and thought I was dying.

Zoe got sick a few days ago. It finally hit me yesterday, and I spent most of the day in bed with Jacob. Knowing Zoe wasn't feeling so hot, I kept my cell phone in bed with me in case her school called me to come get her. They did call; I slept through it.

I SLEPT THROUGH IT!!!

I felt so horrible. As soon as I listened to the school nurse's message I raced out the door to get her, in my pajamas. I was in a total panic... my baby needed me and I slept through it! She will be scarred for life because her mommy wasn't there!!!! Oh my god, what a horrible mother I am!!

By the time I got there, she was running around with the kids and gnawing on a giant gumball.

OK, so no therapy needed for this one.

Today, it was a different story. If I could have gotten out of bed to take her to the bus stop, I might have talked her into it. But she was in no shape either. And I'm so glad I didn't press the issue, because right around 9 a.m., she came into my bedroom to tell me, "Mommy, my belly hurts. It feels hungry and like I'm going to...."

Blahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. She didn't even make it back through my bedroom door before she stopped, realized the inevitable, and made the decision she was depositing the inevitable RIGHT THERE.



Yesterday was Joe's birthday. The night before I cleaned out all the local grocery stores of their carnations, Joe's favorites. I am gun-shy about ordering flowers after the Valentine's Day fiasco; I've lodged numerous complaints with FTD.com with no reply. So after he went to bed, I found every vase in the house (he has a LOT for a guy) and filled each with a custom arrangement.

If he wasn't impressed with that, I had a backup of slippers and a three-pack of Jockey underwear.

I wanted to make him dinner, but I was just not up to it. He came home and realized this, and packed up his mail and magazines to head upstairs while my ill, moaning self was sprawled on the couch. And I started weeping.

I hate being alone when I'm so near death.

Instead of heading upstairs for a birthday full of peace and quiet, he curled up on the couch with me. I had on "Everybody Loves Raymond" reruns and he picked up the remote and asked if there was any chance "Law & Order" reruns were on.

"Absolutely, it's your birthday, and we haven't watched 'Law & Order' since yesterday," I told him.

While he was searching the guide, I laughed at something on "Raymond," and he put the remote down.

"What about 'Law & Order'?" I asked.

"This is OK."

What a good man.

Although I'm sure if there were a Penguins game on, it wouldn't have taken a birthday for him to demand control of the programming.