You are always a MOM!

   "Once a Mom, you are always a Mom." That's the truth. This whole week has been tough on me as a Mom and Nana. 3 people out of our family of 10 have been sick, and that is always hard on my heart. I kept thinking it might get a bit easier as they get older but...it really doesn't. Just like the phone calls in the middle of the night, leave you with that sick pit in your stomach. That's sorta what it feels like to have my kids sick or hurting and I can't do anything about it.
   Our oldest son is just a few weeks from graduating from college. He has been running himself ragged trying to get all his projects done, plus school work and working. I think he is sick because he has just burnt the candle at both ends for too many days and nights in a row. How I wish I could bring him over some Chicken Noodle Soup and see what I could do to help them.
   Next has been our youngest son Lee. He has been having pain in his stomach off and on now, for over a year and still no one knows quite what it is. We went to see a specialist yesterday and did a few more tests, and so we will see what happens with that. I know he was worried but didn't want to show it. Even at the age of 17, it is hard not to think of him as my Little Lee, and worry a bit.
   Then our granddaughter Jenny has been sick with the flu for four days now. I am glad we live close so that we can help in some way. Now I am just the Nana, but it hurts to see these little ones sick. I still can't believe that I lived through all four of our kids, and all their illnesses.
   Jeff said that when the kids were little and got the intestinal flu, he thought I went over board when the only thing I would give him for dinner was bananas, rice, applesauce or toast! You know the BRAT diet! I didn't really think it was that unrealistic, considering I had been cleaning up after all four of them with the flu for days. Just because he wasn't sick, I didn't even want to take the chance, so I had us all it the BRAT diet for days afterwards. Ok, that does seem extreme, but I guess you just had to be there. :)
   So tonight, I will pray hard for our family, and hope that tomorrow will be a better day. I know these things aren't big and are probably temporary, but still it is a bit hard. Maybe I am being too honest?  But the truth is...I would rather be sick myself any day, than watch my kids or grand-kids be sick. It is amazing some how that we survive though!  I am just grateful to know that they will survive too. At least we have each other, that is actually saying a lot! So even though it has been a tough week, I feel very blessed!

"Children and mothers never truly part - Bound in the beating of each other's heart." -Charlotte Gray

"I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me.  They have clung to me all my life."  ~Abraham Lincoln

"If you have a mom, there is nowhere you are likely to go where a prayer has not already been."  ~Robert Brault