Beyond the call of duty
The small circle of people Daniel can cope with right now – Mama, Papa, Mimi and Poppy – can’t always take care of themselves, but they’ll do anything in the world for him. His grandparents have been here since the first, and because of that they imprinted themselves on his brains before the Zantac nightmare ever began. And that’s really fortunate because Daniel has started his next adventure: teething! I hear that some babies make it through that phase with absolutely no discomfort whatsoever, and we wish (and Daniel most of all!) that he fit that description. But, alas, alack, aherm and acrap, I must unbundle yet another sadness: he doesn’t, not one little bit, and Mama and I aren’t yet self-sufficient.
Here’s the scenario. Ready? OK:
- Daniel’s lower gum had been bothering him like nuts all day
- He hadn’t been able to sleep with the pain, and whenever he finally did pass out from exhaustion, he just woke up again with the next throb
- Mama and Papa had been up with him all day massaging his mouth and keeping him comfortable
- Mama, who currently gets her sleep during the day, finally had to conk out, leaving Papa with the unhappy little bag
- And Papa had to get some work done because he hadn’t been able to get to it all weekend, and he figured he’d have to stay up into the wee to finish it
- But Mama wouldn’t have any of that, and she called her folks for yet another favor
So Poppy, who’d already given s much time to his favorite boy in the whole world, showed up to sit…
…sick and with a 101.4° fever.
That’s true devotion.