Hard times reveal true friends

This past weekend was supposed to be fun.

It was our 11th anniversary and Will’s 9th birthday.

We were going to spend it at Seaworld with other wildside bloggers.

There was promise of a newborn killer whale and snow sledding.

My friend Traci was going to do a Polar Plunge and ride with us.

Life had other ideas.

It started with Charlie. He began puking what seemed non-stop.

I worried that he may need to go to the ER for dehydration.

Traci and I decided we’d go up without him in the morning and skip the plunge and abandon our other friends but we wouldn’t be disappointing the kids.

Then I heard Traci scrambling and Will crying. He started puking.

Then it was Lucas’s turn, as if he hadn’t already been through enough with  severe respiratory distress that landed us at his pedi’s office earlier that day.

He didn’t make it into the bowl and it landed on the carpet before Traci could catch it in the bowl we had waiting for him.

I was begging Lucas to get back into bed because I felt it coming too and hard to roll as fast as I could to my bedroom where I had a bowl waiting, JUST IN CASE.

We were all weak and exhausted and the next morning Charlie tried to convince Traci to take his car and go home but she decided to stay and help. She went to the store for gatorade to help keep us hydrated. We weren’t throwing up at this point but non of us wanted to put anything on our stomachs.

Later in the evening, Charlie said he was up for taking her home but again she insisted on staying to help.

That is a true friend and for her I am eternally grateful.

Do you have a friend that will catch your kids’ vomit, change their sheets and tolerate you grimy and gross?