A Blessing in Disguise

Last night was a mixture of sheer exhaustion and beautiful peace. My son Abraham is currently experiencing an allergic, asthmatic reaction to some playdough that he was playing with last week at the YMCA. Although he had been told before not to play with this (because he is highly allergic to wheat, of which playdough is made), he chose to play with it anyway. I was pretty upset with him, yet I understand he is only 6 and doesn't fully understand how allergic he really is. Well, now he is definitely making the connection. He has been wheezing and coughing, especially at night, for a couple of nights now.

To confirm my suspicions about what was going on, I found this:

In addition to food, parents should also be mindful of other possible allergens that their child may encounter in preschool, such as playdough or papier-mache made from flour or water, which can pose problems for children allergic to wheat.

Ugh...

On the flip side, last night was also very special because I got to sit up with Abraham and just rock him. We rocked and silently talked into the wee hours of the night about getting married one day, about how I used to rock him as a child, about poverty and starving children, and a whole plethora of other things. I couldn't help but to be reminded of how my grandmother liked to rock in her rocking chair late at night, and how she always invited me and my sister to sleep in the bed with her when we were young girls. It was always such a comfort to me, especially on nights when I wasn't feeling well. She would stay up with me and just sit with me, and that memory is so precious.

So, even though I do not like to see my son having this asthmatic, allergic reaction, I must say that the time we spent together rocking quietly in the dark was precious to me. I even got to sing a song to him from one of our favorite books ever entitled Love You Forever. The tear-jerker story is about the relationship between a mother and her son. Abraham gently sang it with me in his little raspy voice, as he also knows it by heart. It goes like this:

I love you forever,
I like you for always,
As long as I'm living,
My baby you'll be.

What pure joy, as well as moments of utter confusion and exhaustion, this journey of being a mother of two incredible young boys has been thus far...