Today I was home with a sick child. My daughter woke up yesterday with a fever, sore throat and nasty cough. By mid-afternoon it was evident nobody was going anyplace today. I started her on meds to help relieve her fever and body aches and gave her plenty of fluids. It seemed like we were making some headway but then in the middle of the night she wandered down to my room and crawled into bed with me. She was just burning up with fever. So we started all over again. This is any mother's nightmare. Our children are our world. We'd walk through fire for them, and when they are sick you wish it were you instead, at least I do. When Kaysie was little she was sick A LOT. New country new germs. The first two years she was here were awful. I knew the girls in the pediatrician's office on a first name basis. It seemed like we were in there once a month for a while. But my girl was quite a trooper. She doesn't get sick much these days, but when she does, she's still a trooper.
Today when I was doing my daily reading I started thinking about my plight. I have been very blessed these last few years. I am at the point in my career where if I need to take time for my family I do it without worry or regret. I have great health insurance and Kaysie can get top notch care when she is ill. Believe me I am very thankful for that. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have that security. Sadly, there are mothers in this country that aren't so lucky. When their kids are sick and they have to stay home from work, they might lose a day's wages. They might not have insurance, or they might not be able to afford the antibiotics that could mean the difference in their child getting better quicker. Being a single mother I think about those things. A sick child is a single mother's worst nightmare.
I wish the reality of this situation were different. There are also many children in this country who don't have a home and are at greater risk for illness. When these kids get sick it's an even bigger deal because they are sleeping in shelters, or on the streets. There are a couple of ways we all can make a difference in the lives of these children. If you are cleaning your closets out and maybe replacing linens for your bed or bathroom, consider donating them to a homeless or women's shelter. These places would be grateful for your donation, and just think, those sheets, blankets and towels might actually be keeping someone from being at risk for illness just by keeping them warm or allowing them to clean up. I heard on the Delilah show tonight that "The Company Store" (thecompanystore.com) has a "Buy one share one" campaign going on this week. If you purchase a comforter from them this week (and many of them are on sale - I've checked it out) they will donate a comforter to a homeless child in the US. They donated over 18,000 comforters last year. The best part is that the child gets to keep his or her comforter when they leave the shelter. What could be better than that? Keeping a child warm on a cold winter's night, and long after that.
My daughter is asleep in her warm cozy bed. It's cold and rainy in Portland tonight, and I'm certain that there is probably a little girl out there someplace who might also have the flu and not have a warm bed to sleep in, or a cozy blanket to keep her warm. Maybe by tomorrow night she might have a comforter or a clean set of sheets to sleep on and keep her warm simply because a stranger read a blog and made a difference. That would be this mother's wish.
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