God's Drawl

Well. It's another snow day here in Davidson County. I just can't tell you how happy I am to live in a city that apparently lacks the infrastructure to handle 3 inches of snow. We needed this one, kids. (Don't you love how I say that every time?)

It has been a maelstrom of sickness and massive meltdowns around here for the last few days. And last night I was almost certain my head might really explode. The weather men and women were so certain there would be "significant accumulation" that I got crazy and did not even go over my lesson plans or pack lunches. Crazy, I say.

Poor Drew. I'm not entirely sure what is going on with him, but whatever it is, it ain't pretty. After much mother mulling, I think it is just a combination of a lot of things, put over the edge by a fever and a belly ache. In case you don't know this about kids with reflux, anytime they get sick, their reflux kicks into high gear. Which, really, just makes for an all around delightful experience. Drew has had these episodes before. But it has been a long time. And frankly, I was a little scared by his behavior. It was a big ol' mess of defiance and screaming and flailing around. All of that happened BEFORE school on Monday. By Monday night, he was like some other child. Some other child who was possessed. After being put in his room he proceeded to scream and cry until a little while later I found him dead asleep on the floor by his door. I don't know if this makes me a bad mom or not, but I will assure you it was much better for him to be up there than downstairs with me. We were not, what you would call, bonding, in those moments.

Yesterday I tried to keep on top of things with the Tylenol and the sweet, understanding mom voice. DO NOT upset the savage, you know what I mean? We did great until about 11 a.m. and then the, well, you know, hit the fan. I'll fess up and tell you that I cried actual tears. I had no idea what to do. The dad was called, the screaming escalated. It was an all around banner day for this mom. Not to mention how the little savage himself was feeling. I gave him some lunch (in his room) and went back up to retrieve his plate and found him snuggled down in his bed, fast asleep. Poor guy.

The rest of the day went much better. I dug deep and prayed to the Lord for patience and kindness. And some more patience. Then I made up some errands to run just so we could get out of the cotton-pickin' house. While we were driving, Drew said something that can only be described as perfection.

Drew: "You know what, Mama?"

Me: "What Drew?"

Drew: "I think yesterday when I was screaming on my bed God said, 'Bless his heart!'"

I could laugh for 7 hours now just remembering it. HILARITY. And also, so sweet. I cannot tell you how thankful I am that in that moment of HORRIBLE behavior, his response was to believe that God felt sad for him, not angry. Man. Couldn't we all use a little more of that in our lives?

Not to mention that God apparently speaks southern to Drew as well. Which is just grand.