My mom's the best sick-person person...

As a kid, I never really enjoyed being sick (some kids do!!). Well... except for that time when we had chickenpox all together... it's always fun to have company in your misery, heheh. Or when 23 of our 24 JETTs got the same disease and, although we were miserable and exhausted, our teachers kept us pretty entertained... that was pretty fun... and I'm sure you were totally unimpressed that you weren't sick with us, Patricia... :D There were even some fakers who would stick the thermometer against the lightbulb, in order to _stay_ sick (if they ever _were_, aherm). We watched Ben Hur... there was a chariot scene... and an allusion to tomato sauce... and we were served spaghetti (sauce) for dinner... Or that time they stuck me and Johnny in the same big bed, because we were both sick and it an was the only free room, and we drove each other crazy playing on the noisy Speak-and-Spell at inopportune times (when he felt good, I felt bad, and vice-versa)... Good times! :D

In any case...

My mom's never been overly-gushy, but she was pretty tender every time I got sick. I feel miserable when I'm sick, even with just a little cold... can't function at all... it's a terrible cross to bear... :) So there I'd be, curled up in bed, feeling miserable, unable to sleep, but unable to do anything else, not interested in eating anything (a sure sign of sickness: when I don't feel like eating -- as soon as I want to eat, I'm better, haha -- but if I do want to eat while sick and I was craving something specific and you manage to get it for me, don't stand in the doorway picking out some of the chicken and nibbling on it, before giving it to me! lesson learned, I'm sure :D ).

So, Mom...

There I'd be... feeling miserable, and she'd be trying to get me to eat something... anything! (I can only imagine what goes through a mother's head when their child is sick and unwilling to eat.) All the tasty delectables we didn't have on a daily basis would come out to play, as options... toast with looots of butter, orange juice, cheese sandwich, raisins, an egg with melted cheese... cheese... always a special option... Ordinarily, I would've been jumping for a treat along those lines... Not so when sick... although, at the end of the day, if she went against my "I don't want to eat anything" wishes and showed up with a bowl of home-made chicken soup (cliche, I know, but sooo good, when made by Mother), and left it there, eventually I'd get around to gobbling down the delicious goodness, against my mental will... before it got cold.

Mom was even known to give me a tender and affectionate stroke on the head, to comfort me, when I was sick. When I was sick, I felt so safe and secure, because I knew although I felt miserable, I could just lie there and somebody would be looking out for me and making sure that eventually I'd be okay. There's something extremely comforting about being in a bad position, but knowing somebody is looking out for you and that you're not alone. I miss that, now, as an adult, whenever I'm sick, and I have to wonder how I'll get myself to the hospital if I get too ill and need to get checked and what have you.

It's good to have a mom.

Everybody needs somebody to take care of them.

At least when they're unwell.