Measuring Sick with Football Metaphors

Yesterday Harp was sickly - not sick, not feverish, not pukey, just sickly. She's had a cold for the past two weeks, spent a day on the couch over the weekend, but has generally felt sickly for the better part of three months. Our viral gnomes are paying their wiley games on my sanity again.

When the moment comes in the morning to make the call to school, I'm feel like a coach; it's 3rd and long, last play of the game - I've got the guys upstairs shouting in my fancy headphones, my list of plays on my colorfully laminated sheet and a four-foot quarterback looking at me for my next call. And as many times as I've been in the position, I still feel like it's the first time. So many things to weigh - happiness, education, health, attendance record. Who the hell knows the right thing to do. Is school really that important at this age? Will missing circle time affect her appreciation of Steinbeck or Hemingway. Are these my issues - wanting her to be present, to excel in school? Not to have others think that we suffer from perennially weak constitutions - that we're patient zero for every frickin' virus that rolls though the school?

And am I too easy, soft ? Turning her into a wimp, who stays home at the slightest sniffle, takes her temperature constantly - is too pampered - unprepared for the harsh realities of the work world in twenty years? No clue. But I've been dealing with these game sick-day decisions more than I care to admit and they're weighing on my mind. Weighing heavily.

But somehow, some way, I have to get past this issue because we're sick a lot and these last minute calls are driving me to drink before five. So I'm trying to formulate my own fancy play call sheet for game sick-days. Hell, I might even laminate it. Here goes:


NO BRAINER
Vomiting
Fever
Stomach cramps
Snot requiring a whole box of tissue
Green Complexion
ACTION: Keep 'er home, keep her warm, get some bubbly water and check ibuprofen supply. Cancel all extra-curricular activities. Screw homework. Watch TV all day without compunction.

TOUGHER CALL
Fever the night before
Coming and Going Stomach issues
Snot - half box of tissue
Green-ish Complexion
ACTION: Keep 'er home, wait until noon to make a call on extra-curriculars, try to get some homework done. Breathe and run errands without worrying about people seeing her away from school. Watch a movie.

3rd and LONG
Sickly but not faking it
Cries about Breakfast and Clothing Choices
A Little Green
Limited Tissue Use
ACTION
Wait until 7:30 for game sick-day decision. See if you can get 'er up and moving. Change the subject. Talk about how many things she'll miss if she stays home. If she still doesn't care about her BFF's birthday cupcakes before recess, keep 'er home. Watch a few cartoons on PBS.


Hopefully this will work and I can start letting go - because sick days are increasing my frown lines and we can't have that. Hopefully by the time Rose goes to school, I'll have this down and she won't have to look up at me with questioning eyes, wondering if I have the moral authority to make such important decisions about her education and her life. But then again, Rose doesn't seem to care what I think - love the second kid thing.