Today was an interesting day, at best.
Alexa had her ADAP course, required for all teens obtaining a driver’s license. This should have been an easy task. I took Spencer for his class not so many years ago. I dropped him off about ten minutes from home, and I went back to get him at the end.
It was not so easy this time.
The closest location offering the class was over an hour away, the next available date is still undetermined, so there was no option to cancel. Not if you are the teenager in question and you are itching for your license.
So when Alexa came home last night with a stomach ache, we assumed it was a bad reaction to the linguini with clam sauce she had for dinner. When she had a sudden bout of stomach cramps on the drive to Rome, Georgia where the class was taking place, we assumed it was just left over gas from the clams. And when she fainted while trying on a prom dress (we got there very early and had time to kill) we were hoping it might be the “Scarlet O’Hara” effect. The dress was an old fashioned lace-up corset style dress. Women in by-gone days frequently fainted from dresses tied to tight. It was possible…
But when she threw up every fifteen minutes during her ADAP class, we realized the blame had shifted. We were not looking at bad clams…no one else who ate them got sick. We couldn’t blame the dress…or a case of gas. It was evident that we were looking at something more serious.
And when she started running a fever on the ride home, it was clear we were looking at the flu.
The ride home was miserable, fraught with many emergency vomit stops along the way. Thankfully she managed to keep it on the outside of the car, not in.
I have tucked her into bed, gotten her a glass of water and a dose of fever reducer…just like I did when she was a small child…I think the stomach flu is good for that—reminding us that we are still needed by our almost grown children.
Of course, I may have less kindness for the flu tomorrow when I am its next victim…Alexa was drinking from my drink on the entire drive to Rome. I mean…why would I worry about linguini with clam sauce when I had wings for dinner last night?
Until the next time…I’ll be waiting for the stomach ache to hit.