Genius at Work

So Michael has Lyme Disease. Do you have ANY idea how pissed I am at my pediatrician's office???? He started having headaches around November 7th, saw the doctor on the 10th, the 12th and the 16th and even though I repeatedly told them I thought he should be tested for Lyme, they did not draw blood until November 19th. And we did not get a positive diagnosis until November 26th. Through ALL those THREE weeks, he missed 12 days of school, dealt with excruciating headaches and had low grade fevers daily. My husband and I battled the "what if" demons all the time. What if it's not a virus? What if he has a brain tumor? What if he has Leukemia (initial test results bred that fear), blah, blah, blah. Yes, I am P-I-S-S pissed. It is inexcusable and I will be leaving the practice.

Although he is still having headaches, often still tired, not always getting through a full day at school, experiencing side effects from the antibiotics and battling an eye "tic" (no pun intended), he is hopefully on the mend. So that's the good news! Now - you ask - what is the joy here????

The joy was getting to spend 12 days alone with my son. In it's twisted way, comforting him, selfishly comforted me. And when the Motrin kicked in each day, he felt pretty good so we were able to complete homework assignments and projects and we did LOTS of talking. So there was definitely joy.

One conversation especially stands out. About a month ago, my husband and I were again discussing how madly in love we are with our oldest son. He's just such an old soul with the most unbelievable love and sensitivity for life. He is still so unjaded for 11 years old and I dread the day...

Anyway - the subject was "good ole St. Nick". So many kids don't believe and Michael just totally knows there is a Santa Claus. Bob and I were talking about whether we needed to have the "talk". Now it's just crazy that we were even having this conversation because I always said I would NEVER admit to my kids any such nonsense that there was no Santa Claus. But kids are so mean and I know Michael would fight to the death - the concept. I really feared what a target this made him. We didn't come to any decision that day but as luck would have it, we didn't have to worry as Michael took care of it all.

One day when he was home during this unplanned school break, he said to me, "Mom, some kids at school say there's no Santa Claus but I KNOW there is. We have the picture to prove it!"

In case you aren't familiar with my living room, THAT my friends, is a picture of the "man with the bag", caught on film by yours truly 2 Christmases ago. Imagine my surprise when I captured this kodak moment in the middle of the night!

I was positive at the time that I was extending my oldest child's innocence for at least another year. Little did I know how far it was going to extend it!

Anyway, when he said it, I was all over that - preserving yet another year of Santa. "Well, Mike" I said, "You know what I think? I think you should kind of just keep that to yourself when your friends start talking about not believing because you know they will just tease you. That way, you won't get teased." Did I tell you I was a genius????

PS - While I was writing this post, Michael came up behind me and spotted the picture of Santa in our living room and he said, "Hey, let me see that! Awww, that's totally Santa. There's no way that's a guy in a suit. A guy in a suit can't have a beard like that. Yea, that's definitely him."

Yup --- that's him alright.