Nother Mother

Yesterday was a bit of a riot around here. Again. In a slightly demented, "Bloom where you are planted!", the unexpected can be fertilizer rather than the stench of having stepped in something. Sylvia's breakdown was an uh-oh of the blooming variety, and it brings to mind the years and years that she lovingly served our youngest child as a "nother mother".

Admittedly, there is also a maudlin twist in my knickers because infusion is due today, but has been postponed (with doctor's permission) to next week. (The postponement is to avoid the potential for yucky side effects over Christmas, and it will give us an extra week to coordinate new home health and insurance companies with job change.) The first infusions were nightmarish things taking eight hours to complete the administration of the I.V. and came with a host of side effects that lasted for a week or two. And during those years the two big kids would go away to school, or visit a friend if they were on break because the infusions were scary things for a child to have to see. For Erin, infusions were a little like Christmas thanks wholly to Sylvia.
Sylvia would coordinate her arrival with the infusion start time. Early on, she would have play days for Erin and Dylan. Once Dylan went off to school a year ahead of Erin, the play days continued, but they were all about Sylvia loving on Erin. Any emergency, surgery, or hospitalization would leave Erin happy and content with her Mrs. Sylvia--- sometimes even overnight. And Erin was a quirky child with sensory and speech issues. In the years when Erin's mommy could not lift her into the air to simulate flight or even just carry her around, Mrs. Sylvia could and did. It was not the same, but it was precious. Every seemingly small thing that Erin's mama could not give to her, came in the form of Mrs. Sylvia. The blessing here was not only for Erin.
The love given to Erin was just the sort of gift that embodies what we claim to celebrate at Christmas. How appropriate that Sylvia would have her sleigh crater in front of my home so that her elves could hang out here while the reindeer got juiced up over at the dealership days before the official celebration of the Big Event.