For once, I was responsible. It almost never happens. In fact I don’t remember the last time it did. But I was sick for most of last week. So much so that I had difficulty breathing and sleeping on multiple days and nights. I finally started feeling a little better toward the second half of the week. A couple days into my sickness, Sammy got sick. She got croup. At first we tried to handle the situation like pros. Oh, she has fever. That’s alright. We can handle it. Who needs a doctor anyway? And then her voice got all horsy. We instantly figured it was croup. So we started researching causes, symptoms, and cure. We were being the google-doctor. You know. Humidifiers, hot showers (for Sammy :)), and driving-with-window-slightly-open were our best friends. But when her breathing got worse, we thought it was time. It was time for us to quit pretending to be pros and to make a run to the pediatrician.
So last Thursday we took Sammy to a doctor. This doctor was an almost 80 year old, affectionate, likeable, almost lovable man. So endearing. I almost had a crush on him. Anyway. That’s beside the point. Siddharth reached the clinic with Sammy and I showed up about 15 minutes later. The doctor had already gone through one round of counseling with Siddharth. Humidifiers. Hot showers. Driving-with-window-slightly-open. The usual suspects. When I walked in, the doctor said “I will give you time to catch up with your husband and will come back in a few minutes to answer any of your questions.” Siddharth explained everything the doctor told me and I immediately exclaimed, “This is exactly what I read online.” The doctor walked in after some time and Siddharth told him that I had read the exact same things online. To which he jokingly responded “Then I must be doing something right…if I am saying the same thing as the internet.” I did feel slightly embarrassed. Knowing very well how the medical community must detest the google-doctors. Anyway. Since Sammy wasn’t feeling well, I held her close to my chest in a sitting position so she could breathe better. As the doctor was leaving the room he said “So now you know what to do.” I said, “Yes. We do. In addition to that, we need to keep Sammy away from Rehan so he doesn’t get croup.” Honestly, I said this only to sound like an obedient mom of a sick patient, trying to please the doctor. Especially, in an attempt to recover from the previous embarrassment. The doctor responded by saying “You can’t. Don’t even try it.” In my head I was going “Are you for real !? You are the coolest doctor ever!” But in reality, I think, the only words that left my mouth were “What?!” In my head I was going like “Aren’t you a doctor? Aren’t you supposed to advise us against letting Sammy and Rehan transfer germs to each other, and other people?” In reality, all I asked was “Why ?!” The doctor said “There is a reason why your husband and you have caught most colds in the last three years than you have in your entire lifetime put together.” He is right. We have. He continued, “That is because you model sharing for your kids. You teach them to share by example. You share your things. Sharing sickness is an integral part of sharing. So don’t bother trying to keep your son away from your daughter. They will get close to each other. Let them. That’s how it should be.”
On one hand, there is nothing profound about it this incidence. But the more I thought about, the more I was simply blown away by this powerful thought of sharing. We keep telling our kids to share. Sometimes in the most unnatural circumstances possible. In circumstances that we as adults may shy away from sharing. We ask our kids to share their toys, their books, their food, in the middle of them using whatever it is that they are using. But what this doctor reminded me is that the way our kids will actually learn to share is by seeing us share things with each other. It will not be by us telling them to share. So the moral of this long windy story is not just that old wise doctors is the way to go, but also a reminder that sharing is what we do as a family. Knowingly or unknowingly. Every single day. For things that are desirable, and for the things that aren’t. For the things that need it, and for the things that don’t. For the things that are tangible, and for the things that aren’t. We share our thoughts, our actions, our insecurities, our passions, our loves, our fights, our visions, our lives. It is extremely, and insanely fulfilling.
So yeah. We share. We all do. It is kind of awesome.
And, Happy Diwali :).
So last Thursday we took Sammy to a doctor. This doctor was an almost 80 year old, affectionate, likeable, almost lovable man. So endearing. I almost had a crush on him. Anyway. That’s beside the point. Siddharth reached the clinic with Sammy and I showed up about 15 minutes later. The doctor had already gone through one round of counseling with Siddharth. Humidifiers. Hot showers. Driving-with-window-slightly-open. The usual suspects. When I walked in, the doctor said “I will give you time to catch up with your husband and will come back in a few minutes to answer any of your questions.” Siddharth explained everything the doctor told me and I immediately exclaimed, “This is exactly what I read online.” The doctor walked in after some time and Siddharth told him that I had read the exact same things online. To which he jokingly responded “Then I must be doing something right…if I am saying the same thing as the internet.” I did feel slightly embarrassed. Knowing very well how the medical community must detest the google-doctors. Anyway. Since Sammy wasn’t feeling well, I held her close to my chest in a sitting position so she could breathe better. As the doctor was leaving the room he said “So now you know what to do.” I said, “Yes. We do. In addition to that, we need to keep Sammy away from Rehan so he doesn’t get croup.” Honestly, I said this only to sound like an obedient mom of a sick patient, trying to please the doctor. Especially, in an attempt to recover from the previous embarrassment. The doctor responded by saying “You can’t. Don’t even try it.” In my head I was going “Are you for real !? You are the coolest doctor ever!” But in reality, I think, the only words that left my mouth were “What?!” In my head I was going like “Aren’t you a doctor? Aren’t you supposed to advise us against letting Sammy and Rehan transfer germs to each other, and other people?” In reality, all I asked was “Why ?!” The doctor said “There is a reason why your husband and you have caught most colds in the last three years than you have in your entire lifetime put together.” He is right. We have. He continued, “That is because you model sharing for your kids. You teach them to share by example. You share your things. Sharing sickness is an integral part of sharing. So don’t bother trying to keep your son away from your daughter. They will get close to each other. Let them. That’s how it should be.”
On one hand, there is nothing profound about it this incidence. But the more I thought about, the more I was simply blown away by this powerful thought of sharing. We keep telling our kids to share. Sometimes in the most unnatural circumstances possible. In circumstances that we as adults may shy away from sharing. We ask our kids to share their toys, their books, their food, in the middle of them using whatever it is that they are using. But what this doctor reminded me is that the way our kids will actually learn to share is by seeing us share things with each other. It will not be by us telling them to share. So the moral of this long windy story is not just that old wise doctors is the way to go, but also a reminder that sharing is what we do as a family. Knowingly or unknowingly. Every single day. For things that are desirable, and for the things that aren’t. For the things that need it, and for the things that don’t. For the things that are tangible, and for the things that aren’t. We share our thoughts, our actions, our insecurities, our passions, our loves, our fights, our visions, our lives. It is extremely, and insanely fulfilling.
So yeah. We share. We all do. It is kind of awesome.
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| I don't know if he wants to share. I don't know if she is giving or taking. But they are sharing :). |
My Positivity
Nostalgia. We had a massive power outage in the Greater Seattle area over the weekend. While it sounds pretty grim, it has its upsides. If the power outage goes for long enough, then your (smart) phones will stop working. You TV will stop working. You laptop will stop working. Your music will stop working. You internet will stop working. Your cable will stop working. Life, as we know it today, will halt. While the power outage over this weekend didn’t last that long, it did remind me of a time almost 10 years ago. We had power outage for multiple days that year. And everything stopped working. Smart phones were not as pervasive then but there was still the internet, cable, TV, etc. When everything stopped working, after some time of lamenting, we were forced to connect, talk, and interact at a much deeper level. So this power outage over the weekend reminded me of 10 years ago. Those were some sweet happy memories.And, Happy Diwali :).
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