I also wanted to believe that our luck would change, but spring has not been kind to the Hazard family.
The past week is a microcosm of what has been going on all winter. Lauren came down with the triple whammy: flu, ear infection and pink eye. Shortly after, Ted also got sick. I decided I would do my best to beat this bout of illness. I had incentive: we were flying to New Jersey to visit family at the end of the week. I thought if I bunked in the guest room, sprayed Lysol and kept Will away from his sister, we might have a chance.
By midweek, Will was congested and wheezy. And I had a sore throat. Still, my 90-year-old grandfather was looking forward to seeing his great-grandchildren and I didn’t want to disappoint him.
By the day of our flight, I was feeling worse, but Lauren and Ted perked up. We were treating Will’s asthma with a nebulizer and that gave him some relief. It looked like we were going to make it to Jersey after all. How nice it would be to get on a plane and be there in under an hour.
Wishful thinking. Our flight was delayed and the kids were not handling it well. Will, who is usually even-tempered, cried and threw sugar packets off the table while we tried to order dinner. Lauren wanted no part of sitting down. She couldn’t be bribed with crayons or coloring books. Instead I watched Ted chase her down the hallway while we waited for our food. This was it, I thought. We are going to crack.
The dinner was a fun-filled event of keeping Will quiet while trying to get Lauren to stay in her booster seat. The allure of fries helped for a few minutes. There was good news, however. We only had an hour left before departure.
The kids seemed happy and satiated by the time we were ready to board. Again I thought we had made it through the worst. Silly mama, as Lauren would say. If Lauren wasn’t screaming and squirming in her seat, then Will was crying at a volume that required earplugs. Suddenly the seven-hour drive to New Jersey seemed like a walk in the park.
The visit itself was busy as expected. Everyone seemed to be feeling better, except me. During my parents’ Memorial Day barbecue, I was lying in bed with chills and fever, wondering when, if ever, we would all be healthy again.
I’m through believing that warm weather and blue skies will do the trick. But there is still a small part of me that hopes we will be better soon. And I guess that instilled sense of survival is part of what being a parent is all about. There’s no choice but to ride the wave and hope you’ll make it to the other side.
Jennifer Hazard lives and writes in Yarmouth.