Limitless

Today Henry attended the Young Writer's and Artists Fest at USU.   He, along with about 200 of his peers from middle schools around the valley, were recognized for their talents in the visual and written arts.  The theme was Limitless, as was the title of the short story that he wrote as an entry for the festival.   He was able to have a book signed by his favorite author, Brandon Mull (who wrote the Fablehaven and Beyonders series).  He read his story to a small group of students where it was critiqued by some guest responders and students at USU.  He got out of school for the day.  He had fun.

I went up for the program and went to the sessions with Henry, a couple of his friends, and a few of their moms.  It's interesting watching 11 and 12 year old boys together.  They are so silly about some things but so mature about others.  I can't quite get a read on what they are thinking.  I mean, Henry seemed OK with me being there.  He seemed happy to have me and Jay there to hear him read and have lunch with him.  I offered to stay and attend the final "celebration" with him and he didn't seem to care if I did or not.   I sensed, however, that he was ready to run wild and free so I left him to his own devices with the admonishment to please make his bus back to Cedar Ridge and off he went, without a word of goodbye.  

Lest anyone think that I labor under the assumption that Henry is such a super-special-snowflake that he has no flaws or faults, we should rewind to Tuesday afternoon.  Henry needed bloodwork done - again, like he does every 6 months.  He hates getting bloodwork with the passion of a thousand fiery suns but he typically takes it as well as I could want.  Not Tuesday.  He knew it was coming - which was a mistake but not one I could rectify since he has a doctor's appointment next week and it has to be done before we go to Salt Lake to see his endocrinologist for a follow-up.   By the time I picked him up from school, he was simmering and ready to boil over.  He was an absolute mess, blaming me for every ill ever inflicted on him.  The details of the drive to the hospital, the walk up to the lab and the actual drawing of the blood are ugly and not something I care to relive.  But that wasn't the end.  He was so worried about it that he had neglected to eat lunch that day at school, meaning he hadn't eaten at all since breakfast at 7:00 am.  By the time we got home, we was shaky and nauseous and started throwing up.  He fell asleep on the couch, woke up and started throwing up again.   He bounced back and was fine by about 6:00 pm but not after a long, messy afternoon - one that could have been avoided if Henry had A-eaten something for lunch and B-not worked himself into such a state that it took two people to hold him still so the poor phlebotomist could take his meager sample of blood.   

Guess who is taking Henry to get his next round of bloodwork done?  I'll give you a hint - it won't be me.