I recently suffered a huge case of "MOTHER GUILT". My husband Ron and I decided to take our two oldest sons (Nate and Luke ages 18 and 17) on a long weekend trip to Florida to visit Grandma and Grandpa (who decided that they had had enough of the Chicago winters, so they up and moved about an hour north of Orlando).
Well, we got a great deal on flights and we had free points for a hotel near Disney, so we booked it. We decided to leave our three youngest sons (Joel, Adam, and Caleb ages 12, soon-to-be 10 and 7) at home so that we could have one last time together with the older boys before they are off to college and work and the real world.
We were sort of pigeon-holed into booking our trip over Martin Luther King weekend so that Luke wouldn't miss too much school. But, that meant that we would be leaving on our son Adam's 10Th birthday.
The "MOTHER GUILT" set in right away. As soon as my husband finalized the itinerary and clicked SEND, I started to feel guilty! I promised Adam we would make up for it. The week before Adam's birthday, I took him and our seven-year-old son, Caleb, to Chuck E. Cheese's on a Saturday night, and it was a packed house. But, I promised! Two hours and about 200 tokens later, I left Chuck's with two very sweaty boys with plastic spider rings and a foam airplane (that broke in the car - UGH!)
The day before our trip, Caleb came down with a terrible fever and flu (come to think of it, I wouldn't be surprised if he picked up some sort of germ at Chuck E's). I took him to the doctor because Luke had had Strep throat the previous week and I thought Caleb might have gotten Strep too. Our doctor said it wasn't Strep, but rather the flu, and he prescribed medicine and lots of fluids and rest.
We left his office and stopped at Osco Pharmacy on the way home. I gave the pharmacy the prescription and proceeded to fill my cart with Popsicles, ice cream, Gatorade and water. I wanted to make sure that Caleb had everything he needed while we were gone. (OMGosh, THE MOTHER GUILT IS GETTING WORSE!)
I didn't have any time to buy Adam a birthday present because I was so busy getting ready for the trip and taking care of Caleb. (More MOTHER GUILT SETTING IN!) I quickly browsed the "toy" aisle in the pharmacy to see if they had anything decent. Was I kidding myself? A CHECKERS game? A lame action figure? A deck of cards?
I ended up buying Adam a box of Fruity Pebbles for his birthday. He loves Fruity Pebbles and I never buy sugar cereal for the boys. I used to, but then Caleb started bouncing off of walls and sugar had to be banned. So, it was a forced decision and not an easy one, but my MOTHER GUILT had the better of me and I bought the Fruity Pebbles.
Caleb was miserable! He could barely open his eyes and he was terribly weak.
My brother-in-law was supposed to come to our house to babysit while we were in Florida, but when we called him, he was in Wisconsin (nine hour drive from us) and he FORGOT about agreeing to babysit. And, on top of that, HE was sick.
I had to find a sub and quick. I called my next door neighbor. Cathrine and I are close friends, and I had recently watched her little girl who had the stomach flu, and it didn't bother me a bit, so I figured I could at least ask. She agreed to watch the boys.
Poor Caleb couldn't even walk down the stairs to go next door. He hadn't had a bath in two days and he was in the same PJ's too.
So there we were, leaving for Disney World on Adam's birthday with Caleb clinging to life with a fever of 105 degrees and dropping them off at the neighbor's house. Thank goodness, Joel didn't seem phased by the whole thing.
On the way to the airport a rock hit and cracked our windshield. UGH! MORE GUILT!
We got to the airport and checked our bags, went through a very long security line and grabbed some grub before we found a place to plop at our gate. Ron, Nate, Luke and I inhaled some McDonald's and we were ready to go.
It started to rain. It was February 26 in Chicago and the weather had been pretty warm for February. An announcement came over the loud speaker informing us that our aircraft had to make an emergency landing in Indianapolis and we would be delayed.
One hour passed, then two hours, then three. Then I noticed a mom traveling with a young girl who looked like she was about Caleb's age. One of the employees for the airline came over to the mom and told her that the flight was full, and there were not two seats together for them. The employee said he would do what he could, but there was no guarantee that mom and daughter could sit together.
Over my dead body will I let one more mother feel one more ounce of MOTHER GUILT tonight, I thought to myself. I got up and walked over to the mom and introduced myself.
"Hi, I'm Tracy and I overheard your conversation (sorry) and I just want you to know that we will give you two of our seats so that you and your daughter can sit next to each other on the plane. Is that okay?"
The mom was very appreciative and that's all it took to rid my heart of MOTHER GUILT. I knew that Caleb was in the capable hands of my friend and neighbor and I was able to help another mom with her situation and as the world turns, we mom's stick together!!
Well, we got a great deal on flights and we had free points for a hotel near Disney, so we booked it. We decided to leave our three youngest sons (Joel, Adam, and Caleb ages 12, soon-to-be 10 and 7) at home so that we could have one last time together with the older boys before they are off to college and work and the real world.
We were sort of pigeon-holed into booking our trip over Martin Luther King weekend so that Luke wouldn't miss too much school. But, that meant that we would be leaving on our son Adam's 10Th birthday.
The "MOTHER GUILT" set in right away. As soon as my husband finalized the itinerary and clicked SEND, I started to feel guilty! I promised Adam we would make up for it. The week before Adam's birthday, I took him and our seven-year-old son, Caleb, to Chuck E. Cheese's on a Saturday night, and it was a packed house. But, I promised! Two hours and about 200 tokens later, I left Chuck's with two very sweaty boys with plastic spider rings and a foam airplane (that broke in the car - UGH!)
The day before our trip, Caleb came down with a terrible fever and flu (come to think of it, I wouldn't be surprised if he picked up some sort of germ at Chuck E's). I took him to the doctor because Luke had had Strep throat the previous week and I thought Caleb might have gotten Strep too. Our doctor said it wasn't Strep, but rather the flu, and he prescribed medicine and lots of fluids and rest.
We left his office and stopped at Osco Pharmacy on the way home. I gave the pharmacy the prescription and proceeded to fill my cart with Popsicles, ice cream, Gatorade and water. I wanted to make sure that Caleb had everything he needed while we were gone. (OMGosh, THE MOTHER GUILT IS GETTING WORSE!)
I didn't have any time to buy Adam a birthday present because I was so busy getting ready for the trip and taking care of Caleb. (More MOTHER GUILT SETTING IN!) I quickly browsed the "toy" aisle in the pharmacy to see if they had anything decent. Was I kidding myself? A CHECKERS game? A lame action figure? A deck of cards?
I ended up buying Adam a box of Fruity Pebbles for his birthday. He loves Fruity Pebbles and I never buy sugar cereal for the boys. I used to, but then Caleb started bouncing off of walls and sugar had to be banned. So, it was a forced decision and not an easy one, but my MOTHER GUILT had the better of me and I bought the Fruity Pebbles.
Caleb was miserable! He could barely open his eyes and he was terribly weak.
My brother-in-law was supposed to come to our house to babysit while we were in Florida, but when we called him, he was in Wisconsin (nine hour drive from us) and he FORGOT about agreeing to babysit. And, on top of that, HE was sick.
I had to find a sub and quick. I called my next door neighbor. Cathrine and I are close friends, and I had recently watched her little girl who had the stomach flu, and it didn't bother me a bit, so I figured I could at least ask. She agreed to watch the boys.
Poor Caleb couldn't even walk down the stairs to go next door. He hadn't had a bath in two days and he was in the same PJ's too.
So there we were, leaving for Disney World on Adam's birthday with Caleb clinging to life with a fever of 105 degrees and dropping them off at the neighbor's house. Thank goodness, Joel didn't seem phased by the whole thing.
On the way to the airport a rock hit and cracked our windshield. UGH! MORE GUILT!
We got to the airport and checked our bags, went through a very long security line and grabbed some grub before we found a place to plop at our gate. Ron, Nate, Luke and I inhaled some McDonald's and we were ready to go.
It started to rain. It was February 26 in Chicago and the weather had been pretty warm for February. An announcement came over the loud speaker informing us that our aircraft had to make an emergency landing in Indianapolis and we would be delayed.
One hour passed, then two hours, then three. Then I noticed a mom traveling with a young girl who looked like she was about Caleb's age. One of the employees for the airline came over to the mom and told her that the flight was full, and there were not two seats together for them. The employee said he would do what he could, but there was no guarantee that mom and daughter could sit together.
Over my dead body will I let one more mother feel one more ounce of MOTHER GUILT tonight, I thought to myself. I got up and walked over to the mom and introduced myself.
"Hi, I'm Tracy and I overheard your conversation (sorry) and I just want you to know that we will give you two of our seats so that you and your daughter can sit next to each other on the plane. Is that okay?"
The mom was very appreciative and that's all it took to rid my heart of MOTHER GUILT. I knew that Caleb was in the capable hands of my friend and neighbor and I was able to help another mom with her situation and as the world turns, we mom's stick together!!
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