Sprains and Jelly

I took my sister to the doctor yesterday and spent the whole day with her. She lives about 35 minutes from me on a Farm that my parents bought years ago but never did anything with. A number of years ago, they sold my sister and brother-in-law some of the land, they put a house on it, and have loved being out in the country ever since.

We went out to lunch and hit a Crafts Store, making the most of our time together.
I had made arrangements for Daelyn to go to a friend's house after school in case we weren't back by 1:00. Then, at 2:30, I dropped my sister at my parent's house to visit while I collected Daelyn and the other two from school.

Dane ran to the van. "Guess what, Mama? I sprained my finger."

"How do you know it's sprained, son," I asked, suspecting he was using that term because of Sissy's ankle.

"My teacher told me," he responded. Before taking on the Third Grade, his teacher had been a nurse, so I nodded and commented, something like, "Hmmmh."

He piled into his seat, Deanna jumped in, and they both began bubbling over with details of their day. I love this time with them everyday. They have so much to share and so many cute little stories. Working mothers miss out on this special time with their children. If I'm not home or they go to a friend's house right after school, we can never recapture those first few moments after school.

Deanna said she had tons of homework. Not good, I thought, since we needed to take Aunt Trina back home. We stopped at my parent's house and I asked if Deanna could stay with them. Dane piped up and said he wanted to stay, too, and get his homework done. Grandma agreed. Daelyn, however, said he didn't feel well, that his throat hurt, and said he wanted to stay with me. Grandma checked his throat - very red.

"No wonder he doesn't feel well, honey. His throat looks bad," she told me. Then she got him a throat lozenge that's supposed to be a cure-all.

I loaded up my sister and was headed out the door of Grandma's when Grandpa asked if the grapevines were producing.

"They're full," my sister told him.

"I sure would like some white ones," he said. "I've got some red ones, but no white."

"I'll pick you some quick and send them home with Patti," my sister responded.

On the way out to her house, Daelyn began to cry.

"My throat really hurts, Mama. When is that throat lozenge going to kick in?"

Uh-oh. I realized suddenly that Daelyn really felt bad. And I was scheduled to sub for his teacher today because she's out with a very serious kidney infection. I snatched my cell phone and quickly called her, explaining the situation.

When we arrived at my sister's house, she grabbed a couple of bags and we headed for the scuppernon and muskadine vines. We picked a large grocery bag full for me and a gallon plastic bag full for my father, then headed for home.

We were so late that I immediately got started on dinner. We were having grilled portabella burgers on buns and I had put the mushrooms in marinade the night before, so all I had to do was fire up the grill, set the table, and cook the portabellas. My friend, Nicki, came to visit and, when she finally got in the house, the kids attacked her with all their ailments. Dane showed her his "sprained" finger, Daelyn told her about his sore throat, and Deanna showed off her bruise that covers half her foot.

"Patti, did you know Dane's finger is really swollen?" she asked me. I jerked my head around, grabbed Dane's hand and put the little finger on his left hand next to the one on his right. Sure enough, his finger was swollen double the size of the other.

"Oh, for goodness sake," I said. First Deanna's ankle, now Daelyn's sore throat and Dane's swollen finger. I'm not sure if Dane's finger is sprained or is jammed. He needs to see the doctor.

They found a sub for me today and I kept Daelyn home. His throat is worse (he was in my bedroom crying at 3 a.m. instead of 4 a.m. last night) and the only thing that seems to keep it at bay is Tylenold - regularly. I called the doctor's office and left a request on the answering machine for an appointment for both Daelyn and Dane, then began cleaning my muskadines. They're boiling away in the kitchen now, leaching all the juice out of the pulp, so I can make jelly. The whole house smells like it did when I was a child and my mother made jelly often in the Fall. It's amazing how a smell can bring back so many memories.

I made Daelyn some hot lemonade and gave him his Tylenol. He and Dane have appointments at 11:45. It's nice to have him home for the day, even if he IS feeling puny.

Sprains and jelly - not too things that I normally would put together, but they seem to be working together for us today.