Going out with a bang

This year is determined to go out with a negative bang. Yesterday, I spent most of the afternoon in the emergency room with my oldest. He has been sneezing and coughing for a few (4) days, and thinking it was allergies, I treated it as such by giving him a decongestant and Benedryl. It seemed to work as first, but yesterday his cough became worse, and he had a temp. His doctor's office was closed, so off to the ER we went.

I prayed it wasn't the flu. Where I live, it's hard to get a shot unless you're elderly, a baby, or in poor health; my sons fit in none of those catagories. They have a history of asthma, but it's not chronic.

I had pneumonia when I was young and almost died from it. Times have changed and medicine has advanced, but when my children have anything wrong with their lungs, I'm terrified. The worrying is probably is uneccessary, but if they were to succumb to pneumonia or anything else . . . My children are my heart, without them I would be an empty shell.

In the ER, I watched my oldest sit in the waiting room, tears streaming down his face. I thought it was because he felt bad; he told me later he was crying because he feared he had the flu, and his brother would catch it. He also admited he was disappointed about delaying our trip out to the Devil's Backbone. I explained that since we lived only 10 minutes away, we could easily go when he was better.

On yet another note, our dog has disappeared. He's been missing for a week now, and with each passing day, the possibility of his returning is slim. There have been dogs stolen out of our neighbors' yards, and I'm afraid it's happened to us too; none of the animal shelters have him. The dog food bowl looks empty, as empty as the place in my heart Blue used to occupy.

Give me a slow-falling rain, and the mournful wail of a steam engine in the distance, and I could write one heck of a country song right now.