My Lifeline With Sanity

On the odd occasion – you know, like 90% of the time – when things seem as if they’re going from bad to worse, or from worse to desperate, it’s good to know I’ve got friends who’ll help get me through.

Take this week, for example. It wasn’t enough that my Beloved was working out of town. Little Miss 13-month-old (aka The Destroyer) decided this was a good week to come down with Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease.

No, our ancestry does not include any cloven-hooved beasts. (Though I do have a devilish
streak – does that count?)

Who thought of the name for this virus? What were they thinking? Were they thinking? It’s bad enough that we have to quarantine The Destroyer for over a week. (Ye Gods!) But suddenly she’s got an illness that, by the sounds of it, will result in her baa-ing or moo-ing like a farmyard animal.

Which is quite funny, actually, because this week she developed a serious interest in the different sounds animals make. So at least two hours of every quarantine day has involved her repeatedly thrusting a Hand-Foot-and-Mouth-saliva’d book at me so I could point to pictures and make animal noises.

I studied my butt off, all through high school and university and a post-graduate qualification – for what? So I could make cute animal noises a couple of hundred times a day, that’s what!

Who says education is an investment for the future?!!

My saving grace this week has been the daily school drop-off and pick-up routine. I probably would’ve gone mad(der) if I hadn’t been able to laugh about it with other mums who’ve been-there-done-that with the illnesses, quarantine nightmares and animal noises. These friends have been my lifeline with sanity. You know who you are, girls! Thanks a million!