Staying In

In the last two weeks, I worked a Thursday-Friday-Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday stint.  40 hours!  This is much more than my usual 8 hours a week gig.  The extra money will be wonderful to have in the upcoming months, and we all made it through in good spirits.  But.  I missed being home.
As (luck??) would have it, Claire woke up with a slight fever on Thursday morning and I decided she could stay home from school.  Of course, I had planned a big day of working out at the gym, grocery shopping and cleaning house.  But instead I was forced to stay in.  As the day wore on, she grew sicker and sicker and by afternoon her 99 degree temp had progressed to 103.  She slept, watched movies, played a little with her little sister, and let me hold her.   We folded laundry together- something we used to do all the time.  We stayed in for four days.  Resting, playing, and doing housework too.  But at a different pace.  I didn't have to try to make "outside world" stuff a part of our day.  Our world was HOME.  Outside visitors or playful excursions were not an option.  We were bored together.  I played dodge ball with Fisher.  We paged through old family photos.  It was so lovely and I am so thankful to have gotten to be so close to Claire, and the rest of the family over the last few days.  Her fever was gone tonight and I'm sure she'll be off to school in the morning.  Our week will be filled with lots of outings and business, but after a long weekend recouping from many things, I feel ready to welcome it.




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