with all the sickness we’ve had racing through our lives these last months, you can forgive me for not being too sympathetic or interested when sebastian, while washing his face the other night, declared, "i think i will be sick tomorrow."

"oh really" said caring mother.

"yes" continued beautiful dreamer. "and then i will eat ice cream just like madeline when she had her tonsils out at the hospittle."

"well, if you’re sick you will be in bed getting better," said concerned mother.

"i might not be sick" conceeded son.

but i actually was a little worried about him. and even more so when the face got pastier and the shadows underneath the eyes seemed a little more apparent.

one day after school, he went to annie’s house for lunch and then instead of playing at her place until it was time for the playground, he came home.

"what’s up, kitten?" i mildly inquired.

"i don’t want to play." he told me.

his forehead was quite hot, not burning up, but still hot. but the best indicators of his sickness level came from his mood. he wasn’t whinging, he was very quiet, sitting on the sofa waiting for me. i finished up my call and after giving him some tylenol and water, looked at him and said, "okay kitten, in a perfect world, what would you do right now."

this is a great question when kids are sick. sick kids aren’t much into creativity. it doesn’t take much to fulfill their wishes. so when sebastian answered,

"you would read me books and we would eat some apple"

i truthfully responded, "we can do that."

and we did.