The great big meltdown

The fun was bound to end, it was inevitable, and just as the snow has started to melt, so has the family begun its big meltdown, one by one, we're dropping like flies.

It all started yesterday when Lauren came down with that recurring high fever/sore throat stuff that Allie had a week or so ago but someone let her play in the snow yesterday anyway, dosed up on Tylenol, enough to give her that false sense of feeling mostly well again, I mean really, how often does it snow this much here? But after she'd been sledding and was coming around the corner of the house with tears streaming down her face, and sobs erupting from her chest I knew it had worn off.

"I'm just sad about so-and-so-the-horse on Back in the Barnyard (cartoon) mommy", she cried.

"What?"

"Such-and-such threw him up in the air and if he had fallen he would have hurt himself, but he didn't fall he was okay, but it was mean and I'm sad because he could have gotten hurt so I just think of whosit the pig being thrown up in the air and landing with his hands on his hips and it makes me feel better", she manages a smile.

"Oh, I see, why don't you come inside honey, I think it's time for more medicine."

"Okay, mommy, I'm comin'", still choking back tears.

We had a discussion about what's real and not real again, and that make-believe characters don't really get hurt, of which she professed to be fully aware. Perhaps it was just so I could make sure I was fulfilling my momly duties and help her through an emotional state rather than blowing it off. I would have been more concerned if she hadn't rebounded when the medicine kicked in, which of course she did and all was well again until later in the evening when Kevin experienced the whole saga all over again.

"Have you taken Lauren's temperature lately-she's in there sobbing about so-and-so horse on that stupid cartoon!" he exclaimed, quite peeved about the whole thing and thoroughly unempathetic, like how dare she get emotional over something so trivial.

"I know, I know, this has been happening all day and I just didn't tell you because I knew you wouldn't understand, she's just sick and I have her medicine right here, she'll be just like new in a half an hour."

"Okay, because this ain't right!"

"Here, babe, take this and have a little sip of water."

And it's right here where I flash forward to the teenage years and all the wasted tears that are to come, and how many girls outings we'll have to have and how many times we'll have to ship the boys off fishing or chopping wood or repairing or building just so we can be uninhibited, unhindered and hopefully talk through a good deal of it.

It wasn't all like that yesterday though, here she is in one of her brighter moments, being pulled by the go-cart round and round, one of the many perks of living in the country and having a big place to play.

I mentioned that the whole family is on the downturn, I now have a sore throat, John isn't quite himself, says his tummy hurts and he thinks he played too hard in the snow, Allie's tonsils look like grape tomatoes and the worst part was Kevin throwing up at 2 a.m. Not again. A big part of me thinks we just played too darn hard. Clearly we can't handle our snow!