It’s 11:30 pm and I’m woken up. I haven’t been asleep that long. I’m in the cabin. It’s Adeline. She’s throwing up. On me. And both blankets. And the futon mattress. And herself. It’s a real round robin. I pop up without hesitation. (Reflexes work even when you’re asleep.) Meredith leaps from the couch beside us and swats on the lights. I’m holding Adeline up as she continues to empty her stomach.
Poor thing.
It’s obvious, given the evidence, she enjoyed a steady diet today of hotdogs, gummy bears and fruit juice. She must have gotten a bad gummy bear. Historically, Adeline sleeps in the loft. But not tonight. She was grumping because she was whipped from the day. So we agreed to let her lay on the futon with me. It’s comical. Like Meredith right now as she tries to remove the chunks from Adeline’s hair. Simultaneously Meredith is trying not to loose her gummy bears. William is asleep, missing the show.
I climb out of the abyss and exit the cabin in search of paper towels. By the time I return with supplies Adeline is resting on the couch. The demons seem to be fully exorcised. I clean up what remains and prepare the futon. Adeline climbs back in as do I. This time, Adeline will stay on her side. I know I’m asking for it. But I’m tired. And I want to believe the chance of my daughter throwing up on me twice in the same night is low. My faith ends up being well placed as we all fall back asleep without repeating. The whole incident takes about 10 minutes.
I used to get annoyed when stuff like this would happen. But it never made it better. And I’ve since realized that we all throw up on ourselves and everyone around us from time to time. Anger. Bitterness. Insecurity. Jealousy. Greed. Fear. Sometimes with extreme velocity.
So, you can do a lot worse than hotdogs and gummy bears.
