Love is Real

So today my body decides it's a great day for an ear infection, complete with burning ear, dizziness and nausea. Not the best welcome to Monday I've ever had, by any means. For those of you who've never had an ear infection, or at least not one you can remember, it's one of the worst feelings in the world. It's next to impossible to sleep and no amount of anti-nausea medicine helps that particular symptom. Warm compresses help for a short while, but they're no magic cure. I have great sympathy for small children with ear infections. As an adult, I can articulate my pain and, having experienced a number of these darn things before, I know what they are and what I need to do to relieve the pain. A small child only knows they feel bad, crying is necessary and they just want someone to make them feel better. I can totally relate.

Because I have high blood pressure, I have to be EXTREMELY careful about taking decongestants, which are usually the first line of defense against ear infections. The last time I took my prescription decongestant, my blood pressure shot through the roof and I was thisclose to a trip to the ER-in a different state with folks who know nothing about my medical history. Fortunately, my doctor is awesome and was able to help Todd monitor me over the phone and was there to get me through this very scary crisis. So, no decongestants for me today. Just lots of sleep and quiet time. Yes, my children can be quiet, but only under direct threat. :-)

While I was sleeping off one round of extreme nausea, Todd and the little girls had dinner: corn dogs and ice cream. Not the healthiest of choices, but that's okay. They had a great dinner together and were all ice cream covered smiles and giggles when all was said and done (the little girls, not Todd!) They loved having dinner with Daddy and I'm sure there was tons of silliness and laughter the entire time. They got ready for bed and he read them their bedtime story, something they ABSOLUTELY LOVE because he uses silly voices and is very animated. They went off to bed tonight with happy tummies and happy hearts, just the way they're supposed to be.

During this time, four of the teens went for a walk down to the park. It's about a mile from the house, paved sidewalks the whole way with enough street lamps that it's not too scary a walk after dark. Some walk for the exercise, some for the company and some because it's the only way they get to play on the swings. They found some interesting sidewalk chalk graffiti there tonight. The one picture that was uploaded to facebook was a John Lennon quote: "Love is real. Real is love." There was reference to another of the drawings they saw, but fortunately, they had the good taste to NOT photograph and upload that one.

Once the little girls were tucked safely in bed and the teens were recovering from their outing, Todd was ready to head to the gym to work out for a little while. He asked around to see if anyone else wanted to go and got a taker in the one teen who didn't go to the park tonight, so the two of them headed off for a little quality work out time. Normally, I would have jumped at the chance to be there and not worry about the little ones, but the thought of becoming ill while walking the track just wasn't an appealing one for me tonight. Or ever, really.

I am hoping that tomorrow brings some doctor-related relief for me and lots more love and laughter for the family. The house is very quiet right now and not just because that's all my head can handle. Everyone is relaxed, worn out and happy. Just the way they should be.