When I say some days are better than others in response to how I am doing (usually implying how is my MS doing?), I mean something far different from this. This was a run of the mill bad day, meaning it could happen to anyone, and in hindsight these are the days of stories to be told and retold.

When I am having a bad day, I often stop to think what is a bad day. So, think you are having a bad day?

Imagine our 7 lb. dog eating a third of a pound of chocolate covered raisins. With both chocolate and raisins being poison for dogs, this means a huge vet bill paid for in large part because we cannot bring ourselves to let our least favorite dog die simply because he misbehaves if we have the means to save him. If you doubt why this matters to our kids, just keep reading.

Then our 2 year old gets sick and starts puking which lasts the rest of the day.

Then our 6 year old and our 7 year old develop a raging case of the “Get away from me! Mommy/daddy (s)he is bothering me!” while throwing everything they can reach in the basement. At first it was in fun then it was at each other (according to O).

When the six and seven year old kids finally decide they can get along, it is only to get crazy hyper at the dinner table while trying to make our sick two year old join them . Our seven year old is highly impressionable and follows along in the mayhem proposed by the six year old.

TIME OUT!

Then our 6 year old spends a time out ripping up a corner section of the linoleum. (He has progressed from the two year old pushing his poo under the bed room door. His destruction may be legendary one day. For now his deeds serve as humorous reminders making my coworkers feel lucky their kids haven’t imagined such tactics. I dread the hormone afflicted teenage years to come.)

End a day with sleep? Sleep is for the weak!

If one wonders how I deal with all of this, rest easy. The way I handled all of this was to be away from it, not answering my phone because it was silenced during my seven meetings at work. I never felt the vibrations (umm thanks, MS?). I was only around for the dinner time sessions onward. So add an unresponsive spouse to help make or validate the quickly made decisions to the harshness of the day.

What an expensive, bad day this was. Still, it could have been oh so much worse. This was just a run of the mill bad day with little or no lasting harm done.

What’s more, the experience of the whole day could have been mine to live through from dusk till dawn.

I have not the strength of my wife. So for me, the day is but a story to remember how our kids once were.