the parent of an adult

my son came home from a 7 day road trip to and from California last Tuesday.

(SIDE ROAD - he recently moved back with dave and i for a short term. let's be honest here - the son has California written all over him - i can see where this is all going so i know that each day he is here with us now is a gift worth treasuring. but he had to go back to finish up some work and then enjoy the weather and the friends - hence the road trip.)

he is almost a foot taller than i am and i can't use "boy" as an adjective anymore - just a term of endearment. but when he walked through the door this week sicker than a dog, well, i was hit with by a force so strong, that it sucked the air right outta of my lungs.

(SIDE ROAD - i have been laid low with a sinus infection that recruited my lungs, throat, and well, the rest of me to stage a sit-down strike. it would have been a lay-down strike but i had so much congestion that any time my head hit a pillow, i started to suffocate. . . so i spent waking and sleeping hours in a recliner for the most part. so the "sucked the air right outta of my lungs" while seemingly a gross exaggeration was in fact partly due to there not being a whole lot of air in my lungs to begin with.)

i was heart sick looking at him. so i did what mothers have done for time and all eternity - i lovingly force-fed tea, otc drugs, and popsicles down his throat with a strong showing of maternal nagging thrown in for good measure.

he is a grown man and i treated him like he was four. ok, maybe five.

I COULDN'T HELP MYSELF!!!!!!!!!

i would like to believe that my weakened physical condition led to a greater sensitivity to the realm of sentimentality - but let's face it. . . even though i broke myself of the spit on kleenex/wipe the kid's face habit years ago, i am a mom. a mom who has willingly and purposefully laid her super hero costume and her powers in moth balls. . . but in a moment of weakness, i gave into the POWER OF BEING NEEDED.

(SIDE ROAD - you moms-of-adult-children know what i mean - any time you go out in public and end up over-hearing the conversation between a child and his parent - your "kiddie lie detector" flips on and you catch yourself in "mommy law enforcement" mode. a lost and crying child and you're back there in less than a blink. siblings doing the rivalry thing, the dropping of a cherished stuffed toy, small, strident, high pitched whining for any reason and it is all she wrote. and AFTER feeling that surge of power, you smile to yourself realizing that small bender and breaker of rules and hearts is some else's responsibility today!)

although i meant well in my attempts at the art of healing, it wasn't until doctor who also meant well AND could back it up by writing him a prescription for antibiotics that he started feeling better.

well, this isn't the first time a doctor and i have joined forces on a case. . . and it probably won't be the last. but next time, i will behave myself.
ok, i will try to behave myself.
ok, i will promise to try to behave myself.
ok, this is useless. . .
i will just start praying that nobody in our family gets sick ever again. yeah, that should work. no temptation - no giving into temptation. . .

and um, to my family, i'm very sorry for past neurotic behavior. . . although you should all probably pray for good health as well. . . just in case. . .