Never too Old to Be Mothered: A Thing I Want to Do for My Adult Children

Being sick when you're a mom is the worst.

Your kids keep needing to be fed and wiped and washed with no regard for the fact that you're on the third day of an awful migraine or you've been battling the flu for a week.Your other half might be able to bring you up some medicine (maybe) but he's kind of busy taking care of said kids. No one is lovingly mopping your brow with a cool cloth or bringing you a grownup sized blankie.  Best you're going to get is 20 stuffed animals heaped upon you and the Strawberry shortcake bandage that your miniature doctor has apparently determined are the correct remedies for your condition.

Of course, being sick as a young adult is no picnic.

I can remember feeling deathly ill in my early 20s, huddling cold and feverish in the room I was subletting in a cramped Brooklyn apartment. And when I say cold, I mean cold. There was a hole right at eye height in the wall that let in the winter gusts. My windows were frosted, sometimes on the inside. No one was bringing me anything. If I wanted Nyquil, I had to bundle up and walk the five blocks to the CVS. If I wanted food, it was the same deal since I was too broke to afford delivery.

Heck, even the good thoughts behind the cartoon bandage would have been appreciated as I froze my buns off all by my lonesome.

So last night as I lay curled and cramped in P.'s tiny bed sometime in the middle of the night because she woke up and cried for "someone to cuddle with" I started thinking about how when my littles aren't so little anymore, one thing I'd like to do is airmail them care packages when they're sick.

Maybe there's some magic age where you no longer want to be mothered when you have a fever, but I haven't reached it yet and I am 33 years old.

And since these will be my adult children, it means I could send things like whisky nips and gift cards for takeaway, fancy chocolates and the kind of warm, fuzzy socks that are awesome to get for Christmas but that you never buy yourself. Nothing babyish or that will make them say "Aww, jeez, mom." Cookies. A gift certificate for whatever the Netflix of tomorrow is. More takeaway gift certificates. And yes, Nyquil, because sometimes it's the only thing that gets the job done and I'll be darned if my kids are going to have to walk five blocks to get it when they really need it.

What special things do you want to do for your adult children someday?


P.S. - I don't plan to write about what happened at the Boston Marathon yesterday. I'm sick to death of the non-update updates on the radio and TV. Suffice it to say, I hugged my kids a little tighter yesterday and we had sprinkle pancakes for dinner.