A Dose of Love

The Vision

Mom gets sick with pneumonia and can hardly function.   The children cheerfully get up and do their morning chores as usual.  They eagerly start their school work on time without complaint.  There is no bickering or fighting, only loving words.  The baby stays on his schedule and takes good long naps in the morning and afternoon allowing Mama some much needed rest.  When he isn’t sleeping, he is easily entertained by the older children.  The 4-year-old continues to go to preschool and stays happily engaged when he is at home.  Everyone picks up after themselves and stays on top of their chores so the house stays neat and tidy.  Such a lovely dream…

The Reality

Mom gets sick with pneumonia and can hardly function.  At any given moment, the house looks like a tornado swept through it.  The older children are barely doing any school work or chores.  At times they are fighting intensely.  Most of the time, they are staying out of earshot of Mom which isn’t very hard since she can hardly speak at all.  They are making themselves unavailable to be tasked, figuring if they just leave Mom in peace, she won’t give them anything to do…they are right.   The 4-year-old isn’t feeling well either which translates into him being extra cranky, demanding, and needy and not able to go to preschool.  Something is also wrong with the baby as he is crying most of the time and NOT sleeping.  Mom is in despair.

          Happily, the story doesn’t end there.  At some point, I dragged myself to the doctor, got a chest x-ray, got started on antibiotics, and felt drastically better within 24 hours.  I was no longer shaking with fever and chills, my chest pain was subsiding, and I could breath again.

Before this happy change, I hit a low point.  My sweet husband had tried to get off work so he could take care of the family, but he had obligations he couldn’t get out of.  I was weary, weary, weary with trying to take care of my unhappy baby.  I feared he would need to go to the doctor soon and our car wouldn’t start (I learned this when I tried to get myself to the doctor).  At this point, my big kids were trying to help but they couldn’t do much with the fussy baby either.   I just wanted to sleep but I couldn’t.  I felt desperate and miserable and tried to think of who I could call for help.  Who could I ask to take care of my fussy baby and whiny 4-year-old so I could rest?  I knew my friends would do it but how could I ask them to?  What if they got sick helping me?  I WANTED  MY MOMMY!  I indulged in a nice crying fit as I thought about all of these things…and then the phone rang.  I was in no state to be talking on the phone so I let the answering machine get it.  I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard the message,

“Hi Marsha, this is Tami (compassionate service leader from church), I heard you were sick (thank you facebook) and I’m calling to see how we can help.”

You know in the movies when the heavens open up and a light shines down and the angels sing?  Well, that is how I felt at that moment.  In my heart I felt, “Heavenly Father loves me and everything is going to be okay.”

And it has been.  I had a nice long chat with Tami and felt better just having someone to share my woes with.   My mother-in-law loaned her car and watched the kids so I could get to the doctor.  She also took the kids to her house so I could rest.  My brother-in-law helped to fix our car.  Friends from church brought us dinner and helped shuffle my kids to their classes.  I was overwhelmed (in a good way) by the kindness of others in my time of need.  And even though I still had that fussy baby by my side, his spirits improved and we had some beautiful naps together.  During my moment of crisis, I had tried to play the “Glad Game” from Pollyanna, but try as I might, I couldn’t think of anything glad about getting pneumonia.  Well, that changed.   Getting sick showed me I was loved and needed and I’m thankful for that.  Thank you one and all for the dose of love you sent my way, it meant so much.