Lakeside Delight

The Husband's Aunt has a lakehouse. A great treat for us every summer is being invited to spend some time on top of a knob looking down at the lake, taking in the country air and just being. We were orignially invited to go to the lake in June, but the trip was cancelled at the last minute, much to our dismay. Needless to say, we, as an entire family, were very much looking forward to the trip.

The morning of the trip, the Boy comes to me and says, "Momma, my ear hurts, can I have a smoothie?" So I ask him, "Does your ear really hurt, or do you just want a smoothie?" No response. But, the Boy begins to walk around with his hand holding his right ear. Again, "Momma, my ear hurts, can I have a smoothie?" In reading this, you might draw the conclusion that in order for my son to eat, he has to be hurt. This is not at all true. I am not sure where he got this notion. I hope he is not already learning to placate his hurtness (I know that is not really a word) with food. Food, as we all know, does not fix anything.

I tell the Boy, "Sweetie, you can have a smoothie even if your ear doesn't hurt." He replies, "Okay, my ear hurts." So, I do what any good mom does (or what any fearful mom aka me does), I call the pediatrician's office on a Saturday. I relay my story, minus the smoothie request, to the receptionist and then the nurse. The nurse says, "How quickly can you be here?" And, we are out the door....after we make a smoothie of course.

We pack up the car for our trip to the lake as well. We get to the doctor's office and feel silly. The Boy never acts sick...no fever, no irritability, etc., etc. The nurse asks all questions regarding his "symptoms" and all I can say is he told me his ear hurts. The nurse of course rolls her eyes a little and I know she is thinking what two year old can tell you his ear hurts and really understand that his ear hurts.

The Doctor comes in, checks the Boy's ears and sure enough, the right ear is infected. Glad the Boy told use...how else would we have known?

We went to the lake anyway. No swimming in the water, but the boat ride was fantastic. The weather was perfect and the company was amazing. Our family is very blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives who are not really a part of our family. The Husbands "Aunt" Donna isn't really his aunt anymore, but she loves us, and she loves the Boy like he is her own. We definitely need that when most of our true family are not frequent visitors in our lives. A simple weekend at the lake calms us, makes us reflective and refreshes us before our week back in the real world. Who doesn't need that?