I'm not stressed

I am not stressed. I don’t feel stressed. In fact I feel good, the best in years.


Yes, I did come dangerously close to throwing a plate across a restaurant dining room and telling my child, “Just Deal!” but I can explain. You see I spent a week taking care of and worrying about my child who was sick. For three nights he vomited or as he likes to say over and over again “puked.” On the first night I calmly cleaned up the puke and washed him. I fired up the laptop and Googled “how to get vomit out of carpet.” The next night I was prepared with a bucket. We went to the doctor, who advised fluids and over the counter medication. I was calm when my child refused to eat or drink or take medication. When the rivers of diarrhea began to flow, I was calm. I stayed up during the night rubbing his back and comforting him. After two days of my child no drinking and having a fever, I calmly discussed going to the hospital with my husband. We spend Saturday night in the hospital. I was tired but calm. Sunday I received lots of attitude and whining, a sign my little guy was on the road to recovery. I was patient and understanding.

Then I reached my breaking point.

I attended a blogger event at Peddler's Village with my good friend and my sister-in-law. I carried my 35 pound child from Giggleberry Fair to Sweet Lorraine's Cafe & Bar, where a buffet lunch was waiting for us. I placed mac and cheese on a plate with some potato chips, the only things my child would consider eating. Upon returning to our table I placed the plate in front of my child, who quickly protested. He only likes mac and cheese from a box, not the real kind of mac and cheese sitting on his plate. I scrapped the mac and cheese off his plate and placed the plate back in front of him. He was still upset because there were cheese streaks on the plate, that is when I almost threw the plate across the room and yelled “Just Deal!” Instead, I got a clean plate, placed the chips on the plate and announced that I can wait to return to work, where I am entitled to a lunch break by law.

I am not stressed. I am a mom dealing with life.