Today's Special

Hi!

When Sara and I got sick as kids, my mom would often leave us with her mom. There was a little office, or den, off the main living space that we called "the sewing room," where we'd spend our sick days. The room had a cork wall with family photos pinned up on it, my grammas sewing machine, a medium sized TV, and a small pull-out couch that was a light velvet blue.

Sara and I spent many summer days at my grandparents’ house when my mom was working. We generally had the run of their house in the summer, moving rooms with our books and stuffed animals, commandeering a different room or TV depending on the hour of the day.

We'd arrive early and watch TV quietly in the living room while our grandparents slept.  Eventually we’d head to the kitchen to make toast or cereal at the island in the kitchen while "Today's Special" played on the tiny TV next to the fridge – our absolute favorite luxury item in their house.  In the afternoons we’d move to the sewing room, to read or watch TV while my gramma made calls or hosted guests in the living room. After dinner we often played in the sewing room with our cousins. I was happy in the sewing room, I felt safe, it was a familiar and comfortable space. So, to be sick in it, was the lap of luxury.

Me sick, at home, but this was grammas old couch that she gave my parents, so it sort of counts. I am holding baby Taya. I think I might not even be sick, I think I am injured. I am fairly certain I fell off a high stool at cut my toe open. But this was the best “sick” photo I could find to include.

It was an entirely different experience to be sick at Grammas. Rather than having the run of the house, you’d be worried over. Laid out in the sewing room, blankets piled high, a cold cloth on my forehead, medicine would be doled out with glasses of juice every few hours and I’d be served cheese toast, and soup. When my mom and Sara would arrive to pick me up Sara would perch on the arm of the couch looking down enviously. Having been in her shoes more than once, I imagined she was hoping she’d be sick next. Oh, to be pampered.

As an adult, I most often get sick on the road, which is a whole other beast. But at home when I get sick – as I am now as I write this – I am still good at being taken care of.  And if I am lucky enough to get sick when Sofia is around, she is a great caregiver. If not a little pushy with the turmeric ginger shots. But I am also good at taking care of myself. Leaning into being sick is something I excel at. I pull out the heating pad, fluff and puff pillows, line up my medications, make a huge batch of soup, and lay out the way I might have at my Gramma's all those years ago. As I said, I am sick currently, so I am writing this from my sick bed, surrounded by books and a fully charged iPad, full of cold and flu medication. Georgia is flipped onto her back beside me, sleeping soundly. Sofia is away for a few weeks, so I am both patient and doctor this weekend. Not to mention solo dog parenting, which I admit is a bit tough when I’m feeling this way.

Last week, Sofia was sick. At one point she said to me, "When I feel better, I'm going to remember this moment." What did she mean? I asked. "We don't realize how lucky we are when we feel good. But right now, I feel so bad that I will remember and remind myself when I feel good again how lucky I am to feel that way." I knew in the back of my mind I'd get sick next; I had been taking care of Sofia for a few days. So, I really tried to remember how lucky I was to feel good as I puttered around taking care of her and the dog.

I make a mean sick tray even for myself.

This morning, sick and home alone as Sofia is traveling, the sun was rising, and I was shivering picking up dog shit, my nose running down my face, and I thought, "I'll remember this moment, and the next time I walk the dog when I'm well, I'll remind myself how lucky I am."

Tegan