Thursday, March 20, 2008

Friday Confession on Thursday

Sorry Sue, I'll be out of pocket on Friday.

Yesterday afternoon, I got a call from Boy Pop's school (as I sometimes do), letting me know that my son was sick. After saying, "I'm on my way," I hung up the phone, sent an email to my manager, and walked out the door.

When I got there, my baby was being held by the director of the school, with tears in his eyes, clutching his right ear. He was sick for sure and it broke my heart. So I picked him up and hugged him close to me while the director handed me all of his things and a little note for me to read later.

Well, the note was forgotten as I spent the next minutes calling the pediatrician to get an appointment, called Dr Pop to let him know (incidentally, Dr Pop was suffering from his fourth gushing nose bleed of the day at that point and not feeling too terriffic himself), and drove home before loading back up and making the 30 minute drive to the doctor's office.

Yep. Ear infection. Poor baby. I've had an ear infection as recently as 6 years ago and my eardrum burst with the pressure. No big deal, as I felt much better almost immediately and eardrums do heal over rather quickly. But the stabbing pain that woke me up in the middle of the night and almost made me cry is not easily forgotten, so I can relate to my son.

We get back home and I see the note from the director on the counter. I open it up and it said, "You are such a wonderful mother and you never hesitate to come whenever there is a problem."

My confession? That note is bullshit and does absolutely nothing to affirm me as a good mommy. The fact that I am not at home with Boy Pop during the day fills me with guilt that is not explainable. And the fact that I am getting affirmations for doing what I'm supposed to do and being there for my child when he is sick makes me sad. Because it means that there are way too many "mothers" out there who bitch and moan and complain when they get the same call I did yesterday.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Stop.

Now.

Rock yer baby cuz yesterday I was at capitol drugs watching a mother buy garlic to cure her child's earache.

You are doing all you can.

It's an imperfect world.

Mrs Pop said...

The world may very well be imperfect, but the thing is, I have a multitude of reasons for going to work each day and nowhere on my list is to further my "career."

My so-called career is dead last on my priority list and I cannot imagine taking my child to daycare if he is sick and not picking him up if he gets sick while there.

Mothers who do that are the ones that give the rest of us a bad name.

gram said...

i would feel good about the note, my children were raised primarly by their dad, whom i have the utmost respect for. i traveled with work and was unable to be with my sick babies most of the time. not only because of work but because of the custody thing. it's hard to explain. i wasn't a bad mommy tho, don't get me wrong, but if i were ever to have gotton a note like that i would have felt pretty good