Like Clockwork

Maybe I should tattoo a reminder to my forehead so that I stop forgetting that May is my least favorite month and I shouldn't let my expectations get out of hand.

Seriously. Every May, travel, work, and the final push to the end of the school year result in summer colds, mood swings, and general physical ailments.

At first, taking a week off from running for the DC trip seemed great; my sore toes stopped feeling sore, and I thought I was marginally caught up on sleep.

I was wrong to be so optimistic! I was sick enough today that my kids kept telling me, "Mrs. K, you sound really sick." At least I wasn't getting the whole "You look really sick" thing. Maybe they're saving that for tomorrow.

This is how I've spent the last week:

Sick in bed with Archie.

Dinner in bed.

Filling and refilling the garbage can. #noshame

 But, of course there are pick-me-ups along the way:

The kids drew pictures for me after we played vocab-review-pic-charades.

Teacher Appreciation Week made me feel appreciated.

Mucinex finally makes a medication that WORKS for me!

Orange juice and ice cream is full of vitamin C, good for a sore throat, and tasty!

And I got to go home for Mother's Day to see my parents and Charlie.

Speaking of Mother's Day, I had a good one. Matt and I drove up to see our respective moms, and it was really nice to just hang out with my brother and her and eat lunch. My dad showed me his latest surgery scars, including the one for his partial-knee-replacement. (He prefaced the x-ray show-and-tell with, "If you keep running, this will happen to you!"...He's a golfer.)

I was not an easy kid to raise. My mom is seriously a saint for dealing with and supporting me through everything. As I get older and see my friends with kids, I appreciate even more all the things my mom did for me, especially the daily minutiae, like laundry, nose-wiping, late nights, and dinner preparation. My mom was a champion for me and my sister when we were young and she was learning how to feed us gluten free foods (in the days before pre-made GF everything)...

She cooked two dinners a night, one "regular", one GF. She made sure our friends, friends' parents, and teachers knew what we could or couldn't eat. Seriously, heroic.

When I picture her dealing with my childhood asthma, my eczema, my emotional instabilities, I feel pity and deep pride. She got through it all with grace, and I like to think I am who I am today in great part because of her.

Fun fact: we share a birthday and are basically twins.

For those of you with or without kids, those of you who see Mother's Day as a little tedious or fraught with emotion, please read this. You are not alone.
 
How has your May been so far?
What's the best thing to do/eat/drink to kill a summer cold?

ABK