A Stranger's Kindness

The past, oh, 48-hours have been rough for the Owens household. And I am going to guess that we are just at the tip of the iceberg. Poor Keagan contracted a virus at school and has been so very sick. I have never seen my child this type of sick before and it scares me. The night before last he was up through the night with a fever (which started on Wednesday evening) and we were alternating ibuprofen and acetaminophen. I assumed he was getting his two-year molars because he was just a little clingy but otherwise normal. So I took him to school Thursday. When I went to pick him up yesterday around 2:30 in the afternoon, his teacher was just about to take his temp and call me. I looked at my sweet boy, sitting at pint-sized snack table, eyes glassy and cheeks red. His teacher said he had had diarrhea all day. The fever was not due to teeth. Last night at home was pretty much awful. Poor Keagan couldn't stay off the potty (we are potty-training...and I was actually going to post about that....but it will wait) or keep a dry diaper on. His bottom is raw from the diarrhea and clearly painful. His fever was only mildly staying down with medicine. He wouldn't eat and anything he drank ran right through him. We changed our sheets right before bed and then during the night we had to change Keagan's bed...and he came back into bed with us but on towels. No one has slept good for two nights. The baby has been very patient, thank God, but he is still a baby and needs a lot of attention. Somehow, we made it to this morning. Luckily Josh was able to stay home with Keagan this morning so I could work just a bit, then we switched roles this afternoon so Josh could go to work. I took Finn to daycare so Josh could focus on Keagan and when I dropped him off I learned that 4 more children from Keagan's class went home yesterday evening. The events and fatigue caught up with me and I started crying while talking to the director of Keagan's school. It is just so hard to see your baby like this (and he continues to be feverish and have diarrhea...add in vomiting this afternoon). I hadn't had my coffee or any breakfast yet so I decided to go through McDonalds drive-thru. I really wanted a peppermint mocha. The lady said their machine was down...now that was nearly enough to send this momma into hysterics. I was going to nix the whole thing and drive off, but then I decided to just get a coffee and a breakfast burrito. Whatever, it was something and I needed to get to my first patient's house. When I got to Window #1 to pay, the McDonalds girl told me the lady in front of my paid for mine. I was confused and asked did I need to pay for hers? Nope. The lady got mine. Just out of kindness. I cried some more. She has no idea how her act of kindness has affected me throughout the day today. It was only $2.43 that she spent on me. She doesn't know me. And she doesn't know my "story." But I have had a couple of the toughest days on record as a mommy and, although she will never know, her simple act of kindness helped me out tremendously. I am writing this blog because I want you all to know that kind people still exist. And today, I am so incredibly thankful for this. I needed a pick-me-up, a refresher (after-all I am now solo tonight with a sick baby and a little baby), a "hug" in a sense from a stranger. I rolled down my window, waved my hand and shouted THANK YOU!! to her. She replied "You are very welcome." Then I said to myself, "thank you. you have no idea how much that meant to me." And I thanked God for her and for my children. And cried some more (fatigue is a powerful thing). Sometimes it is the simple things that a stranger does that diverts the course of your whole day, and improves it. To whoever this stranger is, Thank You. My child may still be sick and I may have a difficult night ahead once he wakes from his nap and I pick up the baby from daycare, but I have this simple act of kindness to fall back on and remind me that God is looking out for me.