She is so many amazing things, but all those things together cannot off set her ability to find the most inopportune time to report,"Mom, I'm not feeling well". And because she does this so often, and like so many other things, so well, we know that she knows when things are about to go south.
Kate has spent the last two Thanksgiving days sprawled on the sofa, full of fever and other unwelcome visitors, missing her favorite holiday. For a child who loves nothing more than a day with her family spent around a table piled with delicious food, missing Thanksgiving once was torture. Missing it two years in a row was unexplainable, unfair, and rotten.
Last summer we spent a week in Washington D.C. At three Kate named her baby doll Dick Durbin. She has read biographies of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. She has a favorite patriot, Alexander Hamilton, and plans to spend the next Halloween dressed as Betsy Ross. A trip to Washington D.C. was what she had always dreamed of, the trip of a seven year old lifetime for a very young history lover. And as we dressed for a tour of the White House, the highlight of her trip, Kate announced, "Mom, I'm not feeling well" and a few moments later she was not.
Tonight Kate and I are at home watching Charlotte's Web, the wonderful 1973 animated film based on the E.B. White book, the very same one I watched when I was young. It's a perfect evening: just the two of us curled up with a fire in the fireplace, sharing one of my favorite childhood movies, except that Kate is sick. And Jack and Mary are at the father daughter dance they go to every year, with Uncle Kenny. Her beautiful pink dress is back in the closet and the new party shoes, purchased for this evening, are in the box. The wrist corsage her dad brought home is in the kitchen, Kate is now in bed, having just missed an evening dancing with three of her favorite people in the entire world.
For a child who loves her family, food, history, dancing, her dad, her sister and Uncle Kenny, her timing is not impeccable.
4 comments:
So, I'd love to say that these disappointments will make her stronger, build her character and all but really..
My heart breaks for Sweet Kate.
Know that there will be plenty of other occasions to wear a corsage and dance and live history and feast with your family. And you will be well.
Oh no! How sad to miss out on such cherished events! Poor thing.
Aw - poor Kate. However, one can't be perfect at everything!
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Poor thing. I hope she is feeling better soon. Even though the post brings disappointing news, it is always good to discover a new and well-written blog.
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