Last Sunday my oldest woke up with a fever. He gave me a hug upon waking up and it was like wrapping my arms around an inferno. His flushed ears and rosy cheeks were my indicators that something was not right. Plus, he didn't have his usual spark.

Now, I am the 'mean mom'. My kids never come to me and say they're bored or else they know mom will find them something to do and it is never any fun, so don't bother. It's no use asking mom for cash because whatever you ask for she will say, "Yes, of course you can have $5. How would you like to earn it?" And when mom says "Get stuff picked up off the floor, please.", you do it or else she'll clean it up- and her version of cleaning is to throw everything away and you don't get to fish it out of the trash.

But God forbid if one of my children fall ill. Then I become Florence Friekin' Nightengale. Do you need another pillow? Done. You want pudding? Done. Is that bird outside your window chirping too loud? Want me to kill it? Done.

I can't stand for my kids to be sick. It is my Achilles' Heel. Nobody is allowed to even breathe while my children are sick. Everything goes on hold until I know for sure my child is fine. I check them frequently and watch them closely, looking for signs of anything I didn't see before; something that could turn into some God awful episode of ER. I monitor fluid intake and fluid 'outgoes'. In between sterilizing everything in the house, I'm hovering like a nervous butterfly...

Whatever it was, the fever was gone by late afternoon and I could tell my son was better when he started his wisecracks about something he saw on TV. I told him to go put his cup in the sink and he fell on the couch, hand thrown back across his forehead and with his best Southern accent he said, "I feel faint. I think you better do it instead..." I can't help but laugh at him. "Get off your butt." I say. "I should have pretended I was still sick." he said. "You can't," I tell him, "because I always know when my children are really ill and when they're not." "How?" he challenges. And I have to admit, I don't know how I know- but I always know.

So I counter with: "Because I'm the one who put the poison in your cup last night!" And that gets things going in the house. We laugh a lot and I think that that is probably something that keeps us from getting sick very often. There is definitely something unwell about a house that has no laughter in it!