off the grid

I've been unexpectedly out of pocket for a few days. Monday Carrie, Debbie, and I drove our kids to EFY in San Antonio. It was all fun and games...you know, making the beds in the dorm rooms, exclaiming over the fun activities listed in the published agenda, reminiscing over our own dorm room days. Then Carrie, Debbie, and I left our little darlings and went to lunch, and shopping, and all manner of kid-free activities.

Fun and games, indeed.

Then, a text at 12:45 AM.

"I'm puking my guts out."

This was from Madison. The fainter.

I went into full-on Momma Bear mode. My baby was sick, and I couldn't get to her. I was a caged animal. And so, by 5 AM, when she was still dry heaving her little guts out...some 180 miles away...I threw caution to the wind, launched myself into my car, and headed out.

[insert superhero music here]

I know. Many of you are thinking HELICOPTER PARENT. I'm so not a helicopter parent. Vomit just brings out the tender mercies in me.

So, anyway, I rush into Madison's dorm room at around 8:30. She's sick. But not SO sick. She has no fever, she's stopped vomiting, and I deem her recoverable. I set in for the day...buy her a gatorade and crackers...and begin Mission Recovery immediately. She sleeps on and off for a while, catching up from her night spent on the bathroom floor. By noon, she perks up and is back to non-stop texting. But she's weak and shaky and has NO DESIRE WHATSOVER to put a morsel of food in her mouth EVER AGAIN. I hand her a cracker...she nibbles the tiniest corner...like a mouse. I roll my eyes.

At this point you may wonder why I didn't just bundle up my baby and take her home. Well, for one thing, she's taller than me...which makes bundling rather untidy. And for another, this particular camp, EFY, is something legends are made of (in our minds anyway). Maddie has looked forward to this for years...she's planned, and shopped, and thought about it all year. So to just give up, to throw in the towel, to say "no thanks," was too much of a disappointment. Yes, again with the tender mercies.

Back to the story---

By about 4...it is clear she's not recovered enough to go the dance scheduled for that evening. I'm loathe to drive back home just in case the night time vomiting reoccurs. (We all know how vomit likes the darkness). So, I make the executive decision to get a hotel room nearby, let her get a good night's sleep at the hotel, and then deposit her back at the camp by breakfast the next morning.

I make all of the arrangements and off we go. [Thank you iPhone.]

By the next morning, she is, in fact, better. The fact that she downs an entire omelet for breakfast is my sign that my work is done. I check her back in at the office, trudge all over campus looking for her group, find them, spend another 20 minutes looking for my car, and drive the three hours back to Houston.

I was home precisely 43 minutes when I get a text that her stomach isn't feeling so well. Two hours later, while in Walmart, I get a call from Jordan telling me that Madison is in her room. I call the nurse (cuz, see, I have her number in my phone) and discuss the situation with her. I think she is fine, so let's give her the evening and see how she does.

Meanwhile, we have tickets for Ice Age - Dawn of the Dinosaurs...a movie Parker has literally been counting down since December. I have an uneasy feeling, so I hold my phone through the movie...just in case. No vibrations. No texts nothing.

No news is good news. Right?

By 10:30 I've heard nothing. I would at least expect a goodnight text. I'm loathe to invite unhappy news, so I wait. I'm reading a good book, and every ten pages or so I look at the clock and wonder. Finally, at 11 I text both girls goodnight. About four minutes later a text comes through..."I feel fine. I'm having a great time. Don't worry about me. Love, Maddie."

Then I fall into a coma.

The end.

Comments

[Annette]

I'd say you are not a helicopter mom...more like a HERCULEAN mom. WOW! The things we do for our little muchkins. My Maddy is probably going to EFY San Antonio next year. So maybe they'll be dry heaving together! :-) Really, remember OUR youth conference in New Braunfels? that was legendary...not so much about the spiritual growth and more about the tan (floating our way down the river!) Good times...