I feel sick daddy
We spent the weekend at the Ronald McDonald House this past weekend. I really do enjoy giving our time for this place. My family (my wife, two kids and I) volunteer as weekend managers 5 or 6 times a year. It’s so wonderful to be able to help people. When your child is in the hospital, it just does stuff to you. I know when my daughter was there I would have paid any price to trade places and take that suffering away from her. The same goes for my son. When it’s your kids who are sick… it just sucks that much more.
The RMH is great. Its one less thing you have to think about or plan or worry about while your child is in the hospital. If you haven’t heard of them, please take some time and find out more. THEN find the closest one to you and support them. Basically it is a home away from home. They provide a room and dinner each night as well as places to rest, watch TV, play games, talk to other parents who might be going through the same thing, many have fully stocked kitchens. All for a very reasonable price, $15 a night and if that’s too much, they truly work with you.
So anyway, here we are at the RMH. The dinner that night was this beef stroganoff dish with small meat balls, grilled veggies, squash casserole, salad and bread. My daughter was like “mmmm Dad, this is soooooooo good.â€? so she finished up that plate and wanted more. As we sat back down I realized I may have put too much on her plate the second time around. So I told her, “You don’t have to eat all that. I don’t want you getting sick from eating too much.â€? It was right then, I felt it….
Let me back up just a bit. Not only do they have a fully stocked kitchen, there are piles and piles of sweets and treats: Cookies, cakes, candy, sweet rolls, pastries from Panera bread (they donate them, and ooooh they are good). So of course, we can’t help but eat those during the day. So after dinner, we do the dishes, close the curtains and finish up the night time chores and head down to our makeshift apartment. The conference room has a full bathroom and a pull out sofa and a couple cots for the kids, home sweet home for the weekend. Megan has a nuked cinnamon roll in tow. I wanted a coke, so I let her get one as well. Once again, “Megan, maybe you shouldn’t eat that I don’t want you getting sick.â€?… “I’m fine dad…. gosh…â€? ok ok ok… I know… I should be the parent and all that jazz… but sometimes… it’s better for them to experience life…
So sure enough 3 AM rolls around. Tap tap tap on my shoulder as I am pulled up from my dreams. “I feel sick daddy.â€? so me in my half sleep… “Well just go in the bathroom sweetheart.â€? then a couple minutes… seconds… who really knows… time doesn’t work right when you are in that almost dreaming sleep/awake state. “No really dad, my stomach doesn’t feel good.â€?… “Well go to the bathroom sweetheart.â€? comes out of my mouth as I hear her running to the bathroom and then… splash… ooooh I’m awake now. All I can say, I’m glad that part of the room is tile not carpet.
So I rushed in the bathroom, helped her get cleaned up. “I’m sorry dad. But I feel a lot better now.� , “That’s ok sweetheart. Go ahead and go back to bed.�
My wife hears me almost gag a couple times. You know, the smell and all, and she gets up to help as well. Between the two of us, we get it all cleaned up and ready to go. Ready for a new day.
