Mom, The Healer

When you get that knock on your bedroom door and your kid is crying, they are in some kind of distress, you go into Mom, The Healer mode. Gregory gets migraines. This is not something he's inherited from me or my side of the family or his Dad and his side of the family. He has however inherited it from his birth family. Someone on his birth side has life-debilitating migraines. Gregory is adopted, that's right, the cat's out of the bag! Most of the people that are in our World know this, but it's not something we scream from the roof tops because it doesn't matter, he's ours and that's that. But, what I'm saying is I don't know what it feels like to have a migraine. I have friend's who's described this as the most excruciating, debilitating pain on the planet. It's hard to imagine something more painful then labor, but I know there is pain out there like that. Gregory describes it this way; "first my eyes hurt, then I get stomach pains, I feel sick, then my head hurts, then I take a nap." This could go on for hours, but sometimes it just lasts around 45 minutes. He can't do anything but lay down in cold, dark, quiet room. While he's going through this, I am stroking his head, his back, praying over him and talking him through some breathing exercises to get through the waves of pain he feels and to put him into a calmer space.

After it's over, he thanks me, he tells me he loves me and he hugs me. See, Gregory has never been the most affectionate kid and most of the time, he is independent. However when it comes to distress, he's this vulnerable little boy who needs his Mom.

One of my friends had a scary episode with their son this week and as she described what happened, I just heard all the worry, sleepless nights and the fact that she had realized that she hadn't eaten anything substantial in a 5 days. I listened knowing my friend and how connected she is to her son while he, a toddler was laughing and playing like nothing was anything but normal to him. He had already bounced back from all the testing, waiting and worrying of his parents. He's okay, but Mom is going to take a little time to recover from standing the watch as, "The Healer."

We wish to take their pain. We wish it was us and not them. I always tell him that I will always be there for him and that he will always be my baby. I think this need to nurture our kids is not something every person is born with. Some say it's in a mother's DNA to nurture their kids, but I don't believe that. I think it's a choice. I will always choose him, every day that I have on this breath on this Earth, I will ask help from God to be his Healer.