Sunday, January 05, 2014

Son Departure

Those of you who follow me on Facebook or who read my blog yesterday know that I'm in Florida, but what you don't know if that this trip almost didn't happen.
Spencer and I had plane tickets to fly from Ohio to Florida on Saturday morning.
At 5:50 a.m., I received a text from Spencer that he was throwing up. Doesn't matter if you 5 or 20, apparently you still want your mom when you're sick. 
I trundled down the stairs with a glass of water and tucked him back into bed, hoping that it was just a fluke, a one-time thing. But less than an hour later I heard him throwing up again. He continued to throw up all morning as the clock ticked toward time for us to leave for the airport.
We were flying on a small airline that only has two flights per week from Columbus to Florida. If we didn't make the Saturday plane, he couldn't get back to school by the time classes started on Monday.
Earl suggested we should simply drive down to Florida on Sunday when Spencer was better. So I resigned myself. Then Spencer rallied and we journeyed to the airport. 
By this time, Spencer's stomach issues had migrated south as well. 
As we climbed on the plane, I asked the flight attendant if we could sit in the back row by the bathrooms. She doubled up some trash bags and handed them to Spencer.
The flight took less than two hours and when the fasten seat belt lights were off, Spence mostly stayed in the bathroom. 
The plane coming in to land over Tampa Bay and the Bayside Bridge that stretches from Clearwater to Tampa
We landed and Spencer lay day on a concrete bench in front of the airport while I went in search of our rental car. Poor guy. Even at 6-foot, 4-inches, he's my baby. I felt so bad for him.
As we drove the 10-miles from the airport to his college, he clutched the plastic bags and heaved into them. When we got into his room, he promptly climbed into bed. I went shopping for groceries and made a couple of trips from the car to his room. I broke my New Year resolution by using plastic grocery bags. I just didn't plan ahead and bring bags with me for shopping in Florida. I even looked at the Walmart for cloth bags to buy, but no luck. (I usually avoid Walmart but make an exception only when dropping kids at college.) Hopefully, Spencer will feel like eating some of those groceries again soon.
I felt bad leaving him there in bed. His head felt warm, like he maybe had a fever, but he said he was feeling better and just needed sleep. Hope he got some.The last time I went to the dorm and had to force him to open the door for me, I snapped this picture of him. I told  him, open your eyes, so he did, and then he stumbled back to bed. I, however, drove to my parents house and am basking in the sun now.
Here are a couple of photos from my morning run. Hope you all have something equally inspiring in your days today. 


3 comments:

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

Poor Spencer - hopefully he is back to normal now.

Esme said...

I hope he is feeling better. That did not sound like fun.

Just Me said...

My heart goes out to him. Nothing worse than throwing up. Having to resort to a airplane restroom is a very, very close second.

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