Keeping Perspective

This weekend, I had an object lesson in keeping perspective on things. 

My five year old son had the last of his pre-kindergarten immunizations on Friday and woke up Saturday running a temperature.  Fortunately, it wasn't very high, only 100.2 degrees, but enough to make him feel uncomfortable.  That afternoon, when the children's ibuprofen had worn off and his fever was creeping back up, he went to lie down on the couch and started moaning in the most pathetic, albeit dramatic way.  Ethan is one of those children who never ever sits down unless a movie is involved so for him to voluntarily lie down and stare at the ceiling was saying something.  As we waited for the new dose of medicine to kick in, Ethan moaned in a somewhat panicked voice, "I think I'm gonna die!"

I assured him that though he felt really sick, he was not at death's doorstep.  And, a few minutes later, the medicine took affect and he was fine and finally fell asleep.

Funny how desperate the situation feels when we are struggling in it, but later, it doesn't seem quite as bad and the answer to how we should have handled it is quite clear.  In light of this, I'm trying to remember that taking care of sick kids is an exhausting phase of life that will pass and that I just need to have some patience and avoid the drama.  Now I need to go administer the next dose so we don't have any more "object lessons"!