Posted by BobG (192.212.253.8) on April 26, 2000 at 23:54:41:
I have a story to tell about a little supporter of mine. Little because he’s less than 2 feet tall. He can’t talk, wobbles when he walks, wets his pants, will believe anything I say, hangs around our house every Friday and Saturday, and I love him more than life itself. He’s Zackery, my one year old grandson.
Here’s the story. Last February, the week before Valentine’s day, my daughter, Zackery’s mom, had the opportunity to put in a lot of extra hours at work. She’s a flower designer and it’s the next to biggest day of the year for flowers. If she worked all the extra hours it would mean a big paycheck but also a big babysitting bill. I volunteered to take the week off and watch little Zack. Since my wife works it would just be Zackery and me. Figured we could do some man things, like push the stroller around the block, change dirty diapers and fling food on the floor. We could also do a little (do I dare say it) .........bonding.
The first day stared out just fine but by noon Zackery was getting cranky. As the day went on he got worse. Didn’t want to play, eat or nap. Just wanted to be held. So I held him. He would just lie in my arms and look up at me and his eyes would say "Thanks Grandpa. I like it here". His temperature started to go up and he was feeling miserable. By 6 o’clock he was one sick little boy. A cool bath and a little Children’s Tylenol and the fever came down. By bedtime the fever was back up but he was so tired that he wanted to sleep. A little more Tylenol and he slept through the night and by morning he’s seemed fine but it started over again in a couple of hours. He just wanted to be held. I can’t stand to see him sick so it was off to his pediatrician. We find he has an ear infection and is cutting a tooth. Got some medicine for him. Poor little guy, hurting like hell and can’t tell us or show us what hurts. His face saying "Please hold me, Grandpa" I held him for 4 or 5 hours before the medicine brought his pain down. He still wanted to be held until bed time. He slept through the night and by morning he was new again. But first there was a hug and look that said "Thanks Grandpa".
Where is this story going? Well, fast forward to the day before Easter and payback time.
Little Zack is at our house and we’re playing on the floor. Then the first twinges of a cluster start. Very unusual for me. I almost never have an attack during the day. I excuse myself telling my wife why, grab an ice bag, go to the bedroom, pull down the shade and sit on the edge of the bed breathing deeply trying to get all the oxygen I can and stop the pain before it really gets going. I want to be left alone but Zackery comes in and I just can’t tell him to go away. He comes to me and hugs my leg and looks up at me. I could see pain and heartache in his eyes. Somehow he knew, even at only one year old, that Grandpa was hurting. In his way he was saying "I’m here now Grandpa. You held me, now it’s my turn". He never made a sound. Just laid his head on my lap, hugged my leg and tried to love the pain from my head. Know what? It worked! Within 5 minutes the attack was over and we were back on the floor playing.
God bless the children. Unconditional love of a child can fix almost anything.