I'm the kind of person who makes long term connections or none at all. I don't want to be friends with someone for five minutes. If I'm going to bother to care, it has to be a long term project. I'm in it for keeps because I'm in it with my heart mind and soul.
One of the deepest rooted connections in my life is with my cousin, Amanda. She is ten years younger than me but has been in my life for twenty three wonderful years. There is this picture of her mother holding me when I was a baby, one of me holding her when she was a baby, and now we have one of her and Drew when he was a baby. She was in my wedding when she was ten years old and I was her confirmation sponsor. When Drew was born, we asked Amanda and her then boyfriend, Erik, to be his Godparents. Then, when she got married on July 13, 2007, Mark, Drew, and I were all in the wedding. We're entwined and I care for her and Erik deeply. In fact, I sometimes wonder why she and I aren't sisters.
Last year Amanda and Erik had to make the hard decision to leave Detroit. Things are not that great in the Motor City right now and Erik was having a hard time getting a teaching job. Still, it was the shock of all shocks when we found out that they were moving to Nevada. I mean Detroit isn't around the corner but Nevada is on the other side of the country. Little visits were out of the question, especially for us since Mark doesn't like to (or just plain won't) fly.
For the better part of a year now, she and I have stayed in touch by many long distance phone calls. All I have to say is thank God for almost free long distance because she and I talk a lot. But phone calls are not as great as the real thing and so I've missed her for all of this time--so has Mark and Drew.
It was a really wonderful surprise when she called one day in September and said that she and Erik has a plane voucher that they had to use. They were wondering if they could come see us for a long weekend. Of course the answer was HELL YES. So for almost two months, we planned. We picked dates that fit everyone's schedule. Mark and I both took a day off of work. This wasn't easy for me because it was Grandparent's Day and so I caught a lot of ribbing for leaving on one of the most hectic days of the year. Erik took the day off from his classroom and the wheels were set in motion.
That Thursday, Mark and I were both heavy with anticipation of their arrival the next morning. We took Drew to eat at one of our favorite restaurants and enjoyed a nice dinner before calling them to check up on the packing. As soon as we knew that they were in order, Mark and I put Drew to bed and then tried to sleep ourselves.
Yeah, Not happening.
Around midnight, I woke up in a coughing fit. After a drink of water and a trip to the bathroom, I laid myself back down and tried to calm myself back down. In the process of doing so, I heard a sound coming from Drew's room. I immediately knew what it was. "He's puking," I said aloud and Mark must have been awake because he hit the door at just about the same time I did. Sure enough, Drew's peanut butter and banana sandwich made a repeat performance all of her Elmo comforter. And only hours from Erik and Amanda's arrival. We were all devastated but optimistic that maybe this was a fluke thing.
Nevertheless, after I had cleaned up Drew and while Mark scraped the goo off of Elmo (poor guy drew the short stick) I called Amanda's cell.
"Hey, where are you guys?" I cradled Drew's little head against my chest, rubbing his belly.
"Hi!" Amanda sounded so excited. "We're on the airport shuttle. Why are you awake?"
"Because Drew just puked."
"Oh no!" I heard her repeat the news to Erik.
And then, in what can only be called great stupidity (or bravery), Amanda and Erik got on the plane. As they were flying, we were trying to calm Drew back to sleep and both praying silently that the vomiting had ended.
It hadn't. As soon as he woke up, Drew threw up the little bit of water that he had in his system. I prepared Mark to take the trip to the airport by himself and Drew and I prepared for the couch. And then something really interesting happened.
The most important thing to know about my son is that he's very hard headed. In fact, I think we're dealing with granite here. When he gets an idea into his thick skull, it's hard to deter him--no matter the amount of things taken away or the duration of timeouts. I keep on telling myself that one day this will work out in our favor...hopefully.
So my hard headed little boy says that he really wants to go see Amanda and Erik. He tells me he's so much better and even completes a running lap around the house to demonstrate. I believed him, and just to be safe, threw some Motrin into his mouth, grabbed an orange Popsicle and a four cup measuring cup. And as a family, we were off to BWI to pick up two of our Most Important People.
Most of the two hour trip to BWI was uneventful. Drew sucked on his Popsicle. We talked and read books. I overreacted (something new and different) if he so much as coughed. When both of us thought the coast was clear, we tried to feed him a few baked Lay's. Yeah, bad choice. About ten minutes after they hit the stomach, those puppies made their way to the measuring cup and found themselves floating in a sea of radioactive looking orange liquid.
But still, my little guy soldiered on. We were early and he wanted to go up to the observation tower. When we were up there, Drew ran around and played like someone who was well. Then he flung himself at our cousins as they walked out of the terminal. He and Amanda made a big game of jumping off of the escalators when they came to the end. It was my well Drew...
...Until we got in the car and 1/4 cup of water came spewing out of his body. For the record, I would like to mention that I was not keeping official track of vomit. It's just hard not to remember things like that when measurements are clearly marked on the puke bucket.
Amanda and Erik were really good about the whole thing. They were all weekend long as a matter of fact. In some ways, I think it was better to have a sick Drew because we didn't try to fit a million activities in during the weekend. Instead, we all curled on the couch and talked. Talking face to face with Amanda is a treat that I don't get every day.
By Saturday evening, Drew was better and on Sunday morning, they were getting ready to leave. I'm sure the weekend wasn't what they expected. It certainly wasn't what Mark and I had planned. Regardless, it was a great weekend, even for Drew.
Who knows when we'll see Amanda and Erik again. Hopefully it is soon--and no one is throwing up.
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