The sickest…ever

My fourteen year old is sick. She’s the sickest anyone has ever been.  Ever.

I was at a conference today and my phone did not have service.  In the end, that was probably a good thing. I was able to miss out on the illness updates she sent to my husband and me every 5 minutes.  (Here’s a quick recap:  I have a fever! I have chills! Help me!  I’m so sick! I have a fever! I have chills! Help me! I’m so sick!  Ad infinitum.)

After the conference, I called her  from the parking lot.  “Is there anything I can pick up for you on the way home?” I asked her.

She gave me a simple list:  every single item in the cold and flu aisle at Walgreens.  I hung up and headed toward the store. Three minutes later I glanced at my phone  and saw that I had missed four phone calls from my daughter.  I called her back.

“And a milkshake,” she said.  “I need a milkshake.  A strawberry one.  From Culvers.”  She seemed convinced that it would be the cure for her horrible, terrible, worst thing since the plague illness.

As I pulled into the Culvers drive-thru, she texted me a picture of a thermometer.  “I just can’t get my fever to go down!” The text said.  The thermometer read 100 degrees.

I pulled up to the speaker and ordered the promised strawberry milkshake.  And then  I ordered a chocolate one.  For me. I was going to need it.