Balance
Good things come in strange packages sometimes. Today, the entire family was ill. Ed and I still had stuffy noses and coughs. Daniel ran a raging fever and Helena coughed and wheezed her way through several nebulizer treatments. So instead of fixing doors and cleaning things and painting things and panicking, we took care of each other. Ed let me sleep late. I made hot chicken soup with chili peppers. We watched BBC documentaries about the ocean. We read books. We stroked foreheads and monitored wheezing. We gave medicine and insisted on children drinking juice and lying quietly. I sorted laundry on the floor of Daniel’s room to keep him company. I laid on the sofa for an hour so Helena could lie on top of me with her thumb in her mouth. Ed went to get Helena’s medication and searched Philadelphia for more clementines and bought treats at Trader Joe’s. We tried not to bitch or quarrel or stomp or worry. We just did what needed to be done. We just tried to love each other in a quiet, healing way.
The other stuff doesn’t matter a bit. The love does. Living does.
This is a beautiful, if mucus-y, account of families. Sometimes, we are asked to just sit back, and care for one another.
My grandmother always said, “Everything in its time, dear.”
Don’t fret, Stuntmother. You do all of your own stunts, and first and foremost is loving.
What a wonderful snippet on the meaning of life…