Best Friends

The other day I was on the floor playing with my youngest when my phone started to ring. I grabbed it then held my breath when I saw the caller id. The school nurse.

I tried hard to sound calm as I answered. “Hello, this is Jackie. How are you?”

“I’m well,” she said, “but Bo is not. He threw up. Can you come get him?”

I imagined my son feeling scared and sick and lonely. “I’ll be there in a minute,” I said, already running to the car.

It wasn’t until I wrapped my arms around my boy and saw he seemed okay that I let myself relax enough to start rearranging my day. First I canceled my appointments, then my youngest’s. And then I remembered. I needed to cancel my oldest’s playdate with her best friend. The one she’d been looking forward to it all week.

Knowing she’d be upset, I shot off a text then pushed it from my mind, focusing instead on making sure my son had crackers and Gatorade and his favorite shows, all of which seemed to help cheer him up. Soon was bouncing all around, his incident at school seemingly a random fluke. Thoughts of my daughter returned. She doesn’t always roll with change and now I’d canceled a playdate when her brother wasn’t acting sick. Would she understand?

As the bell rang at pick up, I prayed she would.

She bolted out of the door first, barreling into my arms before I could speak. “I heard Bo’s sick! Is he okay?” she asked.

I pulled back to look at her, surprised to see her concern. “Yes, sweetie, he’s fine. Something bothered him at school and he threw up. But he’s going to be okay.”

“Good! When they changed my friend’s dismissal I asked the teacher what happened. She said Bo was sick. I’ve been worried all day!”

As we walked back, I held my daughter’s hand tight, allowing my own worry to melt away. And once home I watched in awe as she gave Bo a get well card she had made in school. As he held it tight and grinned, I smiled too as I realized - my daughter didn’t need a playdate to spend time with her true best friend.