Day 15 Ride of Your Life

Sitting across from me today is my middle daughter Aly. She is home from school with a combo pack of aliments. I am normally a "suck it up and go to school" kind of mom, but Aly has been burning the candle at both ends. Aly has a very bad cold and now she has been diagnosed with a Pilonidal Cyst which has left her with no immune system at all. Aly has been working all day on the weekends going to school which includes two AP classes and also hanging out with friends in between for weeks and she is now paying the price.

 We went to see a surgeon yesterday and he told us that for Aly the best course of action would be to remove the cyst since we are having such a hard time controlling the infection. The hard part is that a Pilonidal Cyst grows at the base of your tail bone, which means that she would not be able to sit on her bottom for a few days after the surgery. Since sitting is such a big part of her school day we will have to plan its removal around a school break. I also tried to convince Aly yesterday that she should slow down on some of her activities. Maybe quit her job, student counsel or skip the fall plays at school this year, but it turns out she LOVES her job, being on student counsel and she also does not want to miss out on the plays. I have created another Monster!

 My oldest daughter Ashleigh went nonstop in high school too, until she came down with Mononucleosis the end of her junior year. Once she healed from that she started back on her high intensity schedule and she has pretty much continued to live that way to this day. What have I done to my kids? I have taught them to live the life that I lead. I once described it to Mark like this; "When I look at life's buffet, I never see anything I do not want to add to my plate!" Unfortunately, my girls are the same way and they are making themselves sick over it. I am not really sure how to end the cycle. I was holding out hope that maybe Avery would be the one child that did not burn both ends of her candle and then she went to auditions for two fall plays at school yesterday and she will be going to these auditions for two more days, she is a member of student counsel which will meet at 6:45 AM on Friday and she has also told me this morning that she is going to her friends bonfire on Saturday from 6:00 PM until whenever. I will now throw up my hands and scream!

 In the big picture I have to admit, that my girls have things that they enjoy doing. They have all been good students and enjoyed the high school years. I know Avery is new to this, but she seems to be settling in very well. If the worst thing my kids learn from me is to taste life, I guess I cannot complain, it can take its toll, but it is not going to kill them or get them thrown in jail. However, there needs to be some balance, and I am not sure I am the best person to teach them that. Let's face it, my blog is about stepping out and living my dreams, while I am living my life, look at the role model that my children have. Right now I need to concentrate on getting Aly feeling better and back at school. Being off from school only adds more pressure since she will have to make up all that homework too. This is not a dream day for me, but it is a necessary one since being a Mom is my real job and living my dreams is still something I do on the side.