This post was most recently updated on May 24th, 2015
This week was my annual ‘single mom’ week. Every year, my husband has to attend a
continuing education school for his crop insurance adjuster’s
license. He usually doesn’t have to go very far – just into the
City – for a few days, but he’s working for a different company now
and their school was several hours away in another state. He left
Monday after lunch and returned Thursday late afternoon. Per usual,
things started going wrong pretty much the minute he stepped out the
door.
Every year something
bad happens while he’s gone. One year I had the flu. The next year
the power was off for 3 days. Last year our water was off for a day
and a half while the water district searched for a leak in the line.
Two years ago, the baby got a horrible ear infection and I didn’t
sleep for the entire time he was gone. You get the drift. This year
was no exception – Tuesday morning I woke up with a terrible
allergy/sinus issue that got progressively worse as the day went on,
culminating in a totally sleepless night and followed by a VERY long,
unpleasant day for the entire household.
So, we have four
kids, ages 14, 12, 7, and 2. They’re good kids. Really good kids.
And they’re pretty self-sufficient when necessary, which was good
this week as I couldn’t stop sneezing, couldn’t breathe and couldn’t
muster the patience or the energy to do much of anything. They
really pitched in to help take care of the 2 year old, in exchange
for my not making them have school for two days. (They’re givers,
all the way.) They also helped
with the cooking and the cleaning up and some of them tried to give
me some peace and quiet to rest. Of course, they don’t see how their
constant bickering and arguing amongst themselves could possibly be a
deterrent to that, but still, effort was made.
By
Wednesday, I was near death. So close in fact, that I called my mom
and asked her to get me some OTC decongestant, which I hate taking.
She brought that from town, along with some Vitamin C, 3 days worth
of antibiotics and a half a bottle of Dayquil cold and allergy. I
assured her that I just had some sinusitis and didn’t need the
antibiotic – my essential oils were working, just not as fast as
I’d like – and I really don’t
like taking medications. But, being an RN for 40 years, she tried to
convince me that I was wrong. We agreed to disagree and she reserved
the right to gloat if things went badly and turned into a full-blown
sinus infection.
By
Wednesday evening, the decongestant, the diffuser and essential oils,
Snout Juice (see a post about that here) as well as about 5 gallons
of stinging nettles tea had started to improve my outlook
considerably. Combined with copious amounts of saline nasal spray,
the extra pillow to elevate my head during the night gave me some
pretty decent rest that night. Although my 7 year old made
sure to tell me that when she got up to get a drink in the middle of
the night, she could hear me snoring all the way out in the kitchen.
Thursday
morning I felt almost human. The kids continued to fight and tell
each other how hard they were making things for me, but they were
still keeping track of the toddler and that was a huge help. I could
finally breathe out of one nostril and no
longer felt like roadkill. By the time Dear Husband got home late
that afternoon, I was functioning at about 80% of Super Mom capacity,
which everyone in the house decided was well enough to resume my
normal duties. Except me, anyway, but I don’t get a vote,
apparently.
Today,
things are pretty much back to normal. I’m still a little stuffy and
have that lovely nagging cough that always pops up just when you
think you’re on the mend, but overall, I feel considerably better and
am able to step back into Mama Mode. Which is a good thing, because
the husband and oldest son have a big fencing project to complete
today and tomorrow and they’re totally unavailable. It’s laundry and
house-cleaning day so the girls and I are working on that and I have
an actual plan for dinner, which is monumental. I think we’re all
going to live.
Looking
back at the past few days, I’m pleased to realize that nothing really
disastrous happened during this year’s single mom week. Yes, I was
sick. But that’s much preferred to one of the kids being sick. Or
no electricity or water. Or super stormy and dangerous weather. (Did
I mention the year hubby was gone and a tornado swept through the
town where we were living? I was 5 months pregnant with baby #2 and
trying to herd an 18 month old and reluctant dachshund into the
basement while calling the insurance agent to find out if our new
windows and siding would be covered since we’d just installed them
and hadn’t had time to add the improvement to our homeowner’s policy.
Oh, and the city tornado sirens were blaring so loudly I could
barely hear him telling me not to worry, just get to the basement.
Fun times.) So, you know, all in all, it wasn’t a bad week. We
made it through, no worse for the wear and everyone is happy to have
Daddy home again. Maybe next year, he’ll take us all with him …
Love and Blessings
The Farm Mama
