Some of you may not know that kids get a vaccine now for chicken pox. When Jack was a year old, the doctor "strongly recommended" it and we went for it even knowing that nobody had any idea how long it would last. It just hadn't been around for long enough.
Later, when folks had more experience with the vaccine you started reading things like, "90% effective" and when you hear that you know that 10% of the people are going to catch it, but you never think it's going to be you.
Last week Jack had a fever and a tummy ache. We kept him home from school, but on Saturday he felt better and we let him play football. (And when I say "we" I mean "I" because Greg was out of town for the weekend which always seems to happen when something important is going on.) Anyway, you know what's coming, right? Life is predictable like that. After the game, as Jack was peeling his soggy uniform off to take a shower I noticed a few bumps on his back.
My keen mommy-intellect quickly put together the fever and the bumps and yanked him up and thanked heaven our doctor's office is open on Saturdays. The rest of my day was spent composing a contrite email to the parents of the other football players and praying that no star players come down with chicken pox just in time for playoffs.
Jack had already missed the last two days of school the previous week then he was out the first two days of this week. I thought I was going to die of cabin fever and video game overload. There's only so much Lego Star Wars you can play after all. (Especially when your partner is always getting to be the best characters and then, when you do get finally get a chance to be Obi-Wan, your partner "accidentally" shoots you with his laser blaster.)
Thankfully, because of the vaccine, Jack only had a mild case of chicken pox. So he went back to school on Wednesday and Thursday. Today, Friday, is the first day of fall break. There's no school for five more days.
I might not make it.