It's always something...

   When you sign up for motherhood, they should give you a little rulebook.  It should have the picture above on the cover. Inside,  it should have about ten pages which say very vague things like "expect the unexpected" and "sleep when you can".  The one thing about being a mother that I hadn't thought through before having kids was that you're life really revolves around them 24/7/365.  You can make plans like crazy,  but don't get too attached because something happens and you have to do a 180.


    Norwegian Cruises invited my husband and I to come aboard their new ship The Norwegian Getaway for a one night inaugural cruise. The ship was going out to the middle of nowhere but the promise of a free suite with a balcony, free food and drinks along with uninterrupted alone time with my husband made it sound like the perfect night away.  Plans were made for transportation and overnight arrangements for the kids (not as easy as it sounds).

   While my husband was out of the country on business, I daydreamed of sitting on a lounge chair with a trashy magazine like US Weekly with a fruity (free) drink in my hand.  I skyped him that he better not come back with jet lag because we are going and we are going to have fun for that one night, or else!!!

     You know where this is going right?  Yesterday my eldest texted me from school.  "I'm nauseous. I"m going to puke. Please pick me up" (Yes, kids in high school can text their parents all of the time. Don't worry this will be the subject of a rant in this blog one of these days).

     I picked him up. I tried my famous diet coke trick on the car ride home.  "Want to stop at 7-11 for a diet coke?" This trick is my barometer as to whether the kids are really sick or not.  It has worked for many, many years. The contraband diet coke is like a truth serum. If they want it, they are not sick. He declined. "Maybe later, he moaned". Uh Oh.

      "Does this mean we can't go?", my husband asked.  Leaving a pukey teenager with aging grandparents is not a great idea.

       Everyone slept through the night, including me so,  I was hopeful this morning.   He is still feeling crappy but if he can keep food down this morning, my doctor-in-law has agreed to watch him so that we can go. Don't worry, if I'm not convinced that he is fine, I won't be able to relax and will stay  home.

     This has happened before.  As I zipped up the suitcase the night before a much needed Vegas trip, a child ran into my room and threw up all over it.  As we were about to walk out the door for planned a mom/kids trip to Orlando, someone puked.  Someone ran a high fever during our week at the family beach house up North. (Being stuck in a beach house with no cable or wifi is not glamorous, at all).  We have had pink eye in a rental car and other calamities that seem to fade in mind as time passes.


     On the bright side, I don't think it is anything serious and it was not a real, paid-for vacation plan so it is really not a huge deal.  

     So in the words of  the late Gilda Radner, "It's always something"