Dear Boys...

None of you is feeling particularly well.  Jack, you have been sick since last week and are probably the "well-est" of all you guys right now.  Joey, you seem to be getting better today.  Ben, you are feeling awful.  And, I feel awful about that.  You see, I will send you off to school tomorrow, loaded up on cough medicine and motrin hoping to help you feel better while you aren't home snuggling with me.  I have to go to work.  Of all weeks to get sick, this one is the worst.  (not that any week is a GOOD week to get sick!)  Dad is out of town.  I am needed at work.  I am needed at home...by you guys.  It is the plight of the working mom, I am afraid...our internal struggle of wanting, needing to stay home with her munchkins, especially when they aren't feeling well.  And yet, knowing, responsibilities at work beckon, and people needing me to help them meet their deadlines aren't always the most understanding in these situations.  Acutally, I shouldn't say that.  The majority of the people I work with are VERY understanding.  It is the small minority who can make my work life as difficult as can be when/if I need to stay at home with my sick babies.  Oh, they would never say anything directly to me about it, but I would always know.  "Why doesn't she have back up babysitting for situations like this?"  "Doesn't she know how to plan better for when she has a sick kid?"  "Gee, I don't get to take a day off when my kid gets sick..because I don't have kids!"  And, in this economy of people struggling to find and keep their jobs, my poor babies get the short end of the stick.  Instead of staying home and putting cool wash clothes on your head, and reading to you in bed, and making you chicken soup, I will send you to school, hoping that the teachers there will take at least half as good a care as I would have taken with you.  And, I will feel guilty about it all day...and pray that you aren't feeling horribly and wondering why mom has to go to work instead of stay home with you. 

I'm sorry baby.  I hope you feel better.  I will sleep with you tonight, and make sure you don't have a fever.  I will make sure you have a cup of orange juice next to your bed and your favorite n'night tucked right under your cheek.  I will snuggle with you and stroke your forehead and sing you lullabyes and hope that in the morning, your sniffles will all be gone.  And pray that you will always know how much I love you. 

Love, Mom