This has been a rotten day. After writing a student up during 2nd block for being disrespectful, I am sourly beginning 3rd block and I get a call from daycare saying that Ephraim has a fever of 101.7 and has huge swollen lymph nodes in his neck. I need to come get him. (And I’m thinking: I already took a half day off this week because he was running a low fever on Monday. I need to give a test this block. I have one more student that has to take the big state ESL test and it has to be done by tomorrow.) But I know I need to go get my son. I call and get a doctor’s appointment at 3:45. There is no one to cover my class, so I have to divvy the kids out two by two and hope these random teachers will take them.

Finally, an hour after “the call”, I leave work and head toward daycare. I retrieve my two sleepy kids (12:30 is naptime) and we head home and I make the kids rest. During this, I go over the copies of my thesis I had printed last week and make sure everything is ready to mail out to be bound. The kids get up around 2 and beg to go outside. I know my son’s sick, but it’s been a decade since they’ve been outside, so we go play on the swingset in the backyard.

I then pack a bag with books, snacks, notebooks, and pens knowing that we’ll have to wait forever and a day at the doctor’s office. Following a quick trip to the post office (thesis mailed!) we make our way to the dreaded pediatrician’s visit. We are there for an hour and a half. The kids have no interest in any activities in the bag. The doctor is concerned at the swollen lymph node, and we are to start Augmentin hoping it is a lymph node infection. However, if it gets bigger or if he has trouble breathing, we are to take him back to the pediatrician or to the ER. Great. So my son has a possible life-threatening condition here? I should have known when the doctor went to call another doctor to get her opinion.

It is now 5:15 and I decide to take the kids to Chic-Fil-A. It’s not kids night. It shouldn’t be busy. I know, my kid’s sick, but they didn’t say it was contagious. We get there and some local school is having a fundraiser night. Millions of little monkeys scurry around near my feet. What used to be the play area is a throng of screaming bodies. Needless to say, we don’t stay very long. We have to head to Target anyway to get the prescription filled.

Target – if anything can lighten my impatient, exhausted mood, it’s Target, right? We walk around and gather a few items while waiting on the meds. I almost buy a Snuggie – they’re on sale for $12! I refrain, and it’s a good thing, too, because the meds cost $45. (Stupid Humana!)

Where does this day leave me? On the couch with the kids, watching Scooby Doo. I must say, I am glad to be home. Glad to be safe and warm with my two children, knowing that God will give me the grace I need each day to be mom and teacher.