I'm a WIMP!

"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?"
Matthew 7:3 (NIV)

Yes it's true! I'm a WIMP. On so many levels actually. But this week, my wimpiness completely revolves around being sick. YUCK! I'm sick. REALLY sick! I've been sick for a week and I'm sick of being SICK! So this week, no grand scriptural or spiritual insight for the post, just regular every day stuff. Why? Because I'm sick.

Now why am I announcing to the world that I'm a wimp about being sick? I have to confess, I'm one of those women who tends to tell people that I have 3 children in my house when my husband is sick, instead of the usual 2. After the past week's experience, I am convicted and must set the record straight. I AM THAT WIMP! I was the 3rd child this week.

A few weeks ago, my husband came down with this terrible head/chest flu. I told him he should stay home in bed. NO. Not this man. He kept chugging along, continuing his regular work routine, driving his usual 1 1/2 - 2 hour commute (each way) into MD 3 days a week, giving them his all the whole time. He then arrived home to a sweet and tender nurse of a wife? Well.... kind of.... I was nursing our daughter who also had it. The poor guy just didn't get too much sympathy that I recall.

So here we are a few weeks later and it hits me. You know how moms are. When we get sick, we just keep going. There really is no option. Well last week, the only option for me was BED! You would have thought that I was on my death bed with the way I behaved. I was simply miserable: headache, nausea, sore throat, cough, body aches, fever, THE WORKS! It all reached a peak one day when I picked up the phone and called my mom on the other side of the country. In my weakest, most pathetic voice I squeaked, "I Want My Mommy!" My mom, being wonderful as she is, offered to call the local Papa John's pizzeria and have pizza delivered for dinner. Come to think of it, I really don't remember what my family ate most nights last week. There wasn't much in the house as I hadn't been to the store for my weekly shopping when the dreaded illness hit.

So what have I learned from this brush with great illness?
1. My 10 year old daughter is an angel who is capable of tidying up a kitchen after school so her mom won't have to come down to face the explosion that is still there from breakfast. :)
2. My husband is capable of cheering (or scaring) the children into getting themselves ready for school without arguing so mom can sleep a bit more.
3. My husband is capable of styling my 10 year old daughter's hair very nicely.
4. My husband is still my knight in shining armor. For 2 days, when he worked from home, he allowed me to stay in bed while he got the kids ready and out the door to school. When he did have to drive into the office, he arrived home after stressful days, Northern VA traffic and headaches and never stopped. He walked in, made dinner, cleaned house, made sure kids showered and tucked them in bed. He even cared for his poor pathetic 3rd child. :)

So, never again will I say that my husband is a "wimp" when he is sick. NO WAY! He's my hero! I guess I've learned not to point out the speck of dust in someone else's eye until I take the plank out of my own. Maybe that's my great insight for the week.