A Jen Too Many

Small feverish person alert. Right on schedule.

After all, it's been a whole week since anyone was feeling ill at our house.

Oldest Girl Child came home from school yesterday complaining that she "didn't have a very good day." Her head had been hurting her, she told me, and demonstrated how she'd held hand to her forehead most of the day. Nor, it came out, had she been the only one with a headache at school that day. At least three of her friends had been suffering from the same thing. And, she informed me, that final authority, her teacher, said something "had been going around the school."

"Am I sick, Mommy?" she inquired, looking at me, tragedy in the downward curve of her mouth, the wide-open eyes pleading for a promise that everything would be all right.

I couldn't promise more than a, "We'll see." She had that look, that slightly red-eyed, sagging eyelids, I-could-fall-asleep-in-seconds look. Her head still hurt. She was vaguely warmish, and as the evening went on she began to complain about being cold. Wrapping her up in a blanket didn't make her feel warmer. Her throat started to hurt. She didn't really want dinner. When I took her temperature it was only 99.1, but I figured that was just because the fever hadn't really gotten a foothold yet.

Of course, there was much weeping, especially while I was taking her temperature. She knew that if she had a fever her fate was sealed and she would have to stay home today. She wanted to go to school and see Maree, her best friend.* We had a talk about how friends don't make friends sick, and she miserably accepted that she might have to stay home.

So, here we are. She is currently residing on the couch, wrapped in a comforter, still with a sore throat, running a slight temperature, looking like a college student who's learned the hard way that staying up 96 hours straight is not such a hot idea. She's very proud of herself, because I let her think that it was her decision to stay home that kept her here. She earnestly confided that it was very hard, but she didn't want to make Maree sick.

Bless her dear little heart.
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*They have proof they are best friends. Maree gave OGC a necklace for Christmas that says "Friends". Maree has the matching necklace that says "Best". Or at least she had the matching necklace. It broke and now the charm that said "Best" has disappeared. OGC is faithful, however, and wears her necklace every day in spite of this great tragedy.