"The thing is...the thing is, my test--it was today--but. Last night? I don't know what it was. I don't...some kind of food poisoning. I was--look, I was throwing up for, like...for like five hours. I threw up for five hours last night. And so. So. If I could talk to...potentially a doctor. I mean, to get out of the test."
This kid was rambling. Holding a peach skateboard. Built and tone, hip tank, but today scared. Poor guy. I'm just a dumb proctor. I can't ordain a retest. I talked to my supervisor. Okay, we decided. Okay, I will leave the office. I will walk across campus with this kid to his professor's class.
Today was gorgeous. Greens, a windy bluster. But this kid, this kid staring down was all, "What are the odds? I mean, I haven't been sick all semester. And...and now I'm late. I'm sure they hear this all the time, but I really really was sick." Poor, poor kid. We made a game plan. "Should I be next to you?" I asked. "Or should you ask alone?" We decided I would wait by the door. And I hear from down the hall, the kid saying the same word vomit about vomit. And the professor going "Yeah. Yup. Okay. Yeah. Okay?" Long long pause. Professor: "So, what? You wanna take it Monday?" Subtext: "This is Physics 102. I don't GD care when you take this dumb exam." I walked out, we chose a new time. The professor shrugged.
The kid WAS the sunshine. "I can't believe it!" He said over and over. "That was easy!" I agreed. "You know when you cram the night before? I didn't get to cram. I mean, I was going to fail."And he was a flurry with "So, what's your program? How do you like Arizona?" And we were a happy little two-let on the sidewalk. Because a tiny bit of grace goes such a long way.
Showing posts with label vomit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vomit. Show all posts
Friday, September 27, 2013
Sunday, May 8, 2011
My Favorite Memory of My Mama (It Is That One Holiday After All)
After my freshman year of high school, I went away to camp for seven weeks. Largely, I do not miss things. I was homesick for maybe two minutes of the entire summer.
The second to last night of camp there is this Final Council Fire that...I won't explain because it sounds lame--especially because the culmination of the evening for all ten summers I went to camp was me sobbing over a pile of pine needles. Moving on.
The second to last day of camp, I got this really bad headache. I was packing all my stuff up, and I just felt horrible. Then, it was Beach Period. I asked to be excused, to stay in the cabin packing because I was ill, but I was reminded it was my last chance to enjoy the lake etc. etc. so I begrudgingly shuffled down to the shore. And, boy, a dehydrated teenager + major headache + burning sun + screaming children + sadness about leaving summer camp = Crazy Sickness--edging on hallucinatory.
That night there was a free-for-all cookout type thing, and it's co-ed kind of, and there are parents kindof, and, well, to make a long story short, my counselors and my cabinmates didn't realize I never went to dinner. I didn't realize I didn't go to dinner because I was actually out of my gourd and didn't know where I was, let alone that it was dinnertime. All I knew was that I was throwing up a lot in a bathroom. And, I really didn't know where I was, but my hair was covered in puke, and I was alone, and I remember thinking, "I just really want my mom." And then POOF. Someone was holding my hair back and gently led me to bed! And I was like, "Whoa--is this one of those Divine experiences where I realize that the concept of Mother is universal?" No. It wasn't. It was my real mom.
I was so sick I didn't even think to think that my parents would be coming to the cook-out function, and apparently they got there, and asked a couple people, and quickly realized I wasn't there, and my mom had this sense I was back in camp in the bathroom. So, she went to the bathhouse, and, lo and behold, there I was in all my vomiting glory.
And so I woke up in this very quiet loving atmosphere with my very own mama who I hadn't seen in about fifty days looking so sweetly at me. And I felt completely healed, and I didn't even have to miss the evening's special ceremony.
So, moms can be pretty great.
Mama's Day Dinner today!
The second to last night of camp there is this Final Council Fire that...I won't explain because it sounds lame--especially because the culmination of the evening for all ten summers I went to camp was me sobbing over a pile of pine needles. Moving on.
The second to last day of camp, I got this really bad headache. I was packing all my stuff up, and I just felt horrible. Then, it was Beach Period. I asked to be excused, to stay in the cabin packing because I was ill, but I was reminded it was my last chance to enjoy the lake etc. etc. so I begrudgingly shuffled down to the shore. And, boy, a dehydrated teenager + major headache + burning sun + screaming children + sadness about leaving summer camp = Crazy Sickness--edging on hallucinatory.
That night there was a free-for-all cookout type thing, and it's co-ed kind of, and there are parents kindof, and, well, to make a long story short, my counselors and my cabinmates didn't realize I never went to dinner. I didn't realize I didn't go to dinner because I was actually out of my gourd and didn't know where I was, let alone that it was dinnertime. All I knew was that I was throwing up a lot in a bathroom. And, I really didn't know where I was, but my hair was covered in puke, and I was alone, and I remember thinking, "I just really want my mom." And then POOF. Someone was holding my hair back and gently led me to bed! And I was like, "Whoa--is this one of those Divine experiences where I realize that the concept of Mother is universal?" No. It wasn't. It was my real mom.
I was so sick I didn't even think to think that my parents would be coming to the cook-out function, and apparently they got there, and asked a couple people, and quickly realized I wasn't there, and my mom had this sense I was back in camp in the bathroom. So, she went to the bathhouse, and, lo and behold, there I was in all my vomiting glory.
And so I woke up in this very quiet loving atmosphere with my very own mama who I hadn't seen in about fifty days looking so sweetly at me. And I felt completely healed, and I didn't even have to miss the evening's special ceremony.
So, moms can be pretty great.
Mama's Day Dinner today!
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