Life With Boys

Life with boys … so what do empty nesters do on the weekends? … we drive several hours to visit our kiddos at midterm … last weekend included a football game and touring campus with Grandma and Grandpa with one boy … this weekend, it was a four-hour drive in the opposite direction to see the other boy … and since we were headed that way could we please bring a few things he forgot … winter coat, long-sleeve shirts, a wizard hat …

So, while we were a time zone away, we got a call from the other kiddo at 6 am … his ear is killing him … his head is throbbing … he has not slept … everything is terrible … ok, we are in a hotel room several states away … wake up and guide him through the process of finding out the options … student health is closed on the weekend (which seems stupid to me) … thus we start to look for an urgent care … we find one that takes our insurance and that has appointments open at 8:30 … now to get him there (kiddo does not have a car on campus) … he is only a few miles away, but walking was not a great option … kid down the hall who has a car has gone home for the weekend … boy starts to arrange an Uber … which of course was not coming up with any available drivers so early in the morning in a college town … option two, call a taxi … taxi fare from the dorm to the urgent care will be $50 … call back and cancel taxi … of course there is public transportation, but he has not figured that system out yet (much to the consternation of two parents who encouraged this activity before school started, but what do we know) … so, I do the only thing I could think of … post a plea in the Facebook parents group … is anyone awake that can deliver kiddo from the dorm to the urgent care …

And someone was awake! Within 20 minutes of posting, we had three people offer to help … I was absolutely flabbergasted … the kindness of strangers saved the day … I cannot begin to express how relieved I was … or how much I need to thank the family that dropped everything to lend a hand … it is so hard to feel so helpless … to know your kiddo is hurting and overwhelmed … and to know they need to figure things out for themselves … but is this the right time for a teachable moment? … I decided it would be, later …

In the end, the diagnosis was not just one, but two ear infections and a bonus sinus infection … he is an overachiever … so for anyone who is counting … kiddo has been gone for 8ish weeks and has already had COVID, a cold, and whatever this crud is, and he still has 8 weeks to go this semester … and he is also the same kid who managed to get mono twice this year … send good thoughts … and NyQuil … he already has a gallon of hand sanitizer …