Every parent has asked themselves at one time or another, "Why did I have children?". Today I am traveling to Prague with my wife and 2 of my children and at 3:35 AM my 12-year-old daughter, Isabella, wakes me up. She had a sore throat and was running a nasty fever. This is the last thing a parent wants to deal with on the day you are to be boarding an international flight. So here's my kid, she's crying, it's 3:35 AM and I ask her, "Do you really feel that bad? Are you sure you weren't just sleeping under to many covers? At that she began to cry louder. So my wife gets up and gives her a throat lozenge and the kid begins to gag on it. Then we toss her in the shower. So while she's in the shower Eileen, my wife, go to the internet to find a 24 hour clinic. To our amazement, there are none. We live in Raleigh, North Carolina. Nice place to live but a little short on services. So what do you do? You go to the emergency room. On the way out the door Eileen says, "Well if it she can't fly you can just follow in a couple of days." I didn't even dignify that one with a response. Going through my head were thoughts like, "Are you out of your effin mind? The kid can just stay with the dogs, she's 12, she knows how to make grilled cheese. I'll leave her with a credit card. Hell, we'll only be gone three weeks. What could happen to the kid in three weeks. After all she is pretty smart and when kids get really hungry they can get pretty resourceful."
Kids can be pretty selfish and coming down with Swine Flu or Strep Throat when I am supposed to board a plane ranks right up there on my bad child behavior list. OK, so the kid didn't really plan this, but she could have toughed it out and kept her misery to herself at least until we got to London. I still have last minute packing to do.
Well her mother returned in about 45 minutes. No Strep or Swine Flu. They gave her Motrin and told us to keep her hydrated. Water and Motrin that's the cure. One last thought, The ER visit probably cost fifteen hundred bucks.
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Hi Glenn,
ReplyDeleteVery interesting Prague Blog Series. We are planning David's Bar Mitzvah in mid June 2012 and we have communicated with a Lubovich Rabbi in the Old New Shul(is it a scam?. They claim to have 4 Kosher restaurants, which is more than in Chicago. Have we been taken??? The weather... disturbing... is this usual?? Why did you guys go and boy you were there for a long time we heard it was just a long weekend kinda place. Perhaps we can connect and talk more.