Homecoming Woes...And the Flu

So, what are the worst words a mother can hear? "Mrs. Pearson, this is the nurse from ____ school and I have your child in the clinic." I have had that call THREE times this week. Once on Monday when no-one was around to help said sick child, once on Wednesday when said sick child who did not have a fever came home on the bus (since she had no fever) and proceeded to throw up all over, and once this morning. Said sick child in question was Ryan who had been up since 4:00 am, but did not tell me he was sick this morning because he thought he could "shake it off". They called at 7:48 am. No alot of shaking going on.

So, now he is home with this bug. Everyone has had it now except Sophie. I hope to keep it that way since she has a game tomorrow and her team has no alternates - they even had to get one from another team. (update - Sophie just walked in and told me her stomach and head hurt...the telltale symptoms)

On to homecoming woes. Ryan is a bright, handsome, funny kid (and that is not just his mom talking). But, he is not really social - at least he does not date. We have tried to encourage him, but he just is not that interested (while part of me is SO RELIEVED about this, I would like him to be more social). So, he decided to ask a girl to homecoming. It was a girl he did not really know well - she is in his AP US History class. She is a varsity soccer player, and runs cross country. So I am thinking she must be OK.

How wrong I was. Well, I don't know this girl so I can't really say. But, she said yes to Ryan, then laid out all the "plans" that she and her friends had set up. He was just a piece of the puzzle. Anyway, he was getting weird vibes. Then she was talking about all kinds of crazy plans which included leaving the dance early, and midnight fishing, and then decided she wanted to go with someone else.

To be fair, this is his version and I do not have her side to dispute this. Unfortunatly, this was decided AFTER it was too late to cancel the "homecoming mum".

I am not from Texas. This is all foreign to me. It comes down to a lot of money for a "thing" the girl in the homecoming pair wears around the school the day of the "homecoming game" and then to the game. You also need to buy a corsage for the dance. These are not cheap things.

So, being the dutiful mom who is trying to support her not-so-social son, I ran around got the mum ordered, complete with the "trinkets" needed. I went very middle of the road with the mum. Not the cheapest, don't want to embarass him or her, and not the high end because that is crazy. All the time feeling my way through this road of "Texas Homecoming" of which I have no personal experience. I get one that has a cute Cougar that roars, etc, etc.

So, when this girl decides not to go with my son, we already owned the mum. I have cancelled the corsage, but we are now the proud owners of this mum. I guess I can kinda see they might be cute. I have now told Ryan this means he has to go next year. And it means I will have to learn how to change out the name and year stickers.

We had also purchased a suit for the boy. Again, to be fair, he needed a suit. He is 17 and should have a suit. I think he looks good - way to grown up. I still remember the little boy who would walk around the playground putting anything he could find in his pockets.

So, to wrapup. Sick kids. Homecoming bust. That about wraps my week.