…said no one ever. I hate when my kids are sick. Not that anyone loves having sick kids but sick kids suck. Plain and simple. Now don’t get me wrong none of this is fun for them and obviously they don’t want to be sick but it’s terrible. I dread the sick days. My three old started with a cough. That cough you know is going to turn into something more in a couple of days so like any overly cautious mom you pump her with orange juice feed her tons of fruits and vegetables cook up a chicken soup and wait. Wait until life unravels before your very self. Then it happens. Fever, runny noise, and THE NONSTOP COUGH. The cough is the worst. It doesn’t end. She might be asleep coughing but you’re not. Nope you’re not asleep. You’re just listening to the nonstop sound of a cough. And when you do fall asleep she wakes up crying because well her 6 hours of Motrin has worn off and it’s 1am. So it’s like having a newborn all over again. You toy with calling the doctor and then decide when the fever reaches 103 you will take her in knowing your self diagnosis of a cold is really what’s going on here but just need to do the right thing and have a second/third opinion (of course the hub has given his opinion). And you’re right. Yes she has a fever, yes she has a runny nose, and yes she has a cough. Now my beef here is all doctors suggest options as though they are going to work. Yet, NONE of them do. 
1. Make the room really steamy with a humidifier. Ok this one is my favorite. It’s like a damn sauna in there and the cough is still going strong. 

2. Prop up the bed. Really? Ok so the bed is propped do you really think my kid is going to sleep on the part that’s propped? No she’s going to scoot down to the bottom of her toddler bed to avoid the 90 degree angle we created to remedy the cough. 

3. Feed her honey. Done and yet we still have the loudest cough possible. 

4. Rub Vicks on her chest. Check. Still coughing. 

I’m convinced nothing works. Not Motrin, Tylenol, baths, warm milk, honey, humidifiers, propped beds. None of these “remedies” cure anything but yet, we do them. We do everything we think is going to make them feel better even though we end up up all night and exhausted. The only thing that seems to work is “mommy can you hold me” and that my friends is the cure. 

I have a blog post about Disney and Christmas and how wonderful everything was. I could write about this renovation my new year’s resolutions my life but honestly right now I feel like that’s irrelevant. At Fenway over the last two decades (yes, two decades) I’ve had the pleasure of meeting thousands of people. Can’t go without mentioning my husband was one of these individuals. People always ask “do you meet the players?” Yes. “Do you meet famous people?” Yes. “Who is the coolest person you’ve ever met?” I’d truthfully have to answer my husband but he’s locked in for life now. So the real answer is Austin Quinn and his family brother Logan, mom Laura, and dad Richard. I can’t explain it but Austin touched my heart. His mom and dad are remarkable folks and his brother Logan is cool in a 16 year old chill kind of way. The obvious in the room was that Austin (13) had cancer but for some reason I can’t say that was what I saw. I saw a boy who loved the Red Sox more than most and who really believed in them. He was basically undefeated at Fenway. He believed. Looking at Austin’s physical features would cause you to see that he was sick but his personality was otherwise. So forgive my denial when his mother reached out last week to let me know that Austin passed away peacefully on Monday. Now this is NOT about me at all. Not even a slight bit. This is a reminder. This is about how one kid touched everyone he met and he should still be here. He was a fighter. This is about the world being terrible and and taking things away from all of us too soon. It’s about recognizing what we all have and that taking every moment for granted is not an option. It’s about family being everything and bonding together in tough times. It’s about the Red Sox meaning more than baseball to so many people. Austin was baseball it was what he liked and we could make him feel like someone without a disease. My last words with Austin were “Austin you have to come back and see Fenway in the snow it’s awesome in the snow”. He said he would and he waited for it to snow. That never happened but I have to imagine the day his mom told me we proceeded to have snow all weekend. I think that’s my sign that Austin made it snow on Fenway and has the greatest view of all.