A good nights sleep

It's tough being a parent some times. Even tougher when the kids are living away from home. When I lay down for bed at night, my last thought before I fall asleep is about my Daughters. I wish them well, and sometimes I've fallen asleep with my fingers crossed. They are not out there doing stupid things anymore, as their college days are behind them, thankfully. Well, there is grad school, but I'm assuming that will be more subdued than the previous 4 yrs. You still worry about them, and you pray that the midnight phone call never comes through. We're not so lucky.

Nicole, who lives in GA, called to say she was in an ER with extreme pain in the stomach area. Turns out it was kidney stones, and we all know how painful that can be. Hearing your daughter in that much pain is gut wrenching, even though you know it's not something life threatening. She was on pain meds, and not speaking very well, which added to the worry. Thankfully Jonathan was with her, and she got home safe, but still in extreme pain. The stone caused some inflammation, and the med's plugged her up, and she came down with an infection, so she was one miserable little daughter. The impulse to drive the 16 hrs south was upon us, but we hesitated, hoping she would follow our advice of reduced pain medication, and a glass of water every hour, plus antibiotics. She failed to make water a priority, and ended up back in the ER, severely dehydrated, and this was after another one of those nightly calls. We've had some of these calls over the many years, the worst being from a hospital saying your child is being medevac'd in from a car accident. Not even going to replay that event. That was the oldest, and she was fine, but my hair never recovered.

Lesson learned, Nicole is now fully hydrated, off the painkillers, and on Flowmax. Now she spends her time in the bathroom, where hopefully that jagged edged little four millimeter torture device will exit.

We've been blessed with two wonderful daughters, but there have been times....

Ahh, the good old days.

Fingers crossed.