Believe 'em when they say they're sick

We were watching "Jon & Kate plus 8" tonight on TLC. I like watching shows about kids, having kids, raising kids, having multiple kids, etc. R puts up with it and flits to check the scores during commercials. Anyway, sometimes he gets a little put out with Jon and Kate because he says they quibble and bicker too much about stupid stuff. I remind him that that is what overwhelmed parents do, he's just forgotten how it was sometimes.

On the show they were trying to buy some beds for the six little ones and the whole family went shopping. As a parent, I know that was their first mistake. One of the little boys wasn't feeling well, and was really in pain from a serious bout of constipation. He was really suffering but then the situation resolved itself during the shopping trip....in the back of their van....well you get the picture. I thought it was hilarious. R was wondering how anyone could take a sick kid out shopping.

That's when I remembered and reminded him about the incident at a small frame shop when my kids were very young. It was just a day or two before Christmas, one of the very last opportunities I had to finish up shopping, and I needed to pick up some small watercolors that I had framed as gifts. It had snowed, probably 6 or 7 inches which is a lot for around here at Christmas. Our deep snow usually comes in January or February. I piled the two youngest into the car with their boots, coats, mittens anchored to one another with a string, caps, and all of the wetness that goes with it. I think the oldest was at school but I'm not sure.

My middle son, N, was complaining that he didn't feel well. I told him that we were just running some quick errands and it wouldn't take too long. He kept telling me his tummy hurt. I told him he'd be fine. I remember thinking, "He can't be sick because I don't have time," and plowed along through the slushy streets to the frame shop.

We got there and went inside. There were two women working, probably owners because the shop was really too small to hire employees. They got my paintings and I got ready to pay when my son threw up his lunch right in the middle of their quaint little shop.

I had the littlest one by the hand and N, who was about three started wailing. I could tell he wasn't finished throwing up and grabbed him to usher him out of the front door. I was trying to steer them both out without having anyone step in anything. We made it just outside, onto a covered area by the door, and he threw up some more. The carrots from his lunch were really orange and disgusting in the deep white snow.

I went back inside to figure out what to do next. The women were staring at me, frozen. It was clear that I was going to have to take action because they didn't have a clue how to handle the situation. I asked for something to clean up their floor and they gave me some paper towels, the folded kind you get out of a dispenser in the bathroom. They didn't have the supplies for real vomit cleanup (I doubt it had come up before) and I did the best I could. The whole time I'm mopping up with the worthless brown paper towels, I'm apologizing and asking them to total my bill so I can write a check. They never moved from behind the counter except to hand me paper towels. I gave the cleanup my best shot and then I wrote a check with the very hand that had just mopped up vomit. I slid it across the counter, grabbed my paintings, my purse, the hands of my two toddlers, one of them crying loudly, and slunk out the door. Just outside was the rest of the vomit, starting to freeze in the snow, but I knew there was nothing I could do about it and I walked right past it.

I put the kids into the car, wet, crying and smelling of puke. I apologized to N for not listening when he was trying to tell me he was sick. We went home and I didn't go back into that frame shop for another 15 years. Seriously. I was sure there was one of those little notes behind the counter about questionable customers with my name on it. Let's face it. Most of us would rather take a bad check than be left with vomit smell in our place of business.

I'd like to say I learned my lesson, but I'm not that bright. And sometimes, we just don't have time.