by Beth Burns

Created on: April 29, 2008   Last Updated: November 13, 2011

The trouble with me...is that I am very stubborn. The trouble with being stubborn is that the second people hear that I took my sorry stubborn butt to Urgent Care, they know something is really wrong. The trouble with being stubborn is that you can't keep secrets, because you are too predictable!

I was kinda sick all week long, but I thought it would pass just like my body does. I stress myself out in life, I get a little under the weather, I remember to start eating right and taking care of myself and it passes. That's how it works.

Only this time...that magical day when I wake up and go, "ah, I'm alright!" did not happen. Instead, I woke up and said, "oh man...still? ...and worse?" I still dragged said stubborn butt to work, determined to suck it up and get through the day with the promise of a heavy nap in sight. I set a few things up and started to dig into the mail...I couldn't focus, I sorta started to cry a little, then came the hot flash, then the whiny mood bubbling under the surface that I knew only one person that would know what to do with. So, I dialed the phone..."hello?" the voice said, "Mommy?" "I'll be right there, I'm taking you to Urgent Care."

In an instant she knew that was the voice of her child in need and on went the Super Mom cape. Even though I'm in my thirties, she can snap into that mode in an instant! Truly miraculous.

She drives to my office, picks me up, drops me at the door of Urgent Care, we tug back and forth on my bag, she wants to help, I am mindlessly holding onto it, she wins. I am checking myself in with the lady in the window, who is calm and healthy. I stand there waiting for her to finish typing something and the extreme hot flash hits...I barely have one arm looking like its pulling out of a sleeve, when Mom appears ready to take my coat from me.

She waits patiently in the waiting room for me to be finished, takes me to the pharmacy to get the prescriptions filled...yes, official, I'm sick. She takes me to work to tell them I'm not coming in, then home.

She does not stop there! She shows up at dinner to bring me food, take care of my cats, fill my water bottle. The next morning she makes me have a little coffee so I don't go into withdrawal from caffeine on top of everything else, and has brought me a breakfast sandwich fresh from the bakery on the corner.

Would I have gotten through this on my own...yes. But I would have cried a lot more, and been even more miserable. She never let me get down on myself or even start to worry about life and the office or anything other than getting healthy.

Oh, yes, and it was her birthday.

Darned good thing I was ahead of myself and got her a present and breakfast the day before!

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