Over the weekend we were driving to the market when Bracken got carsick. That doesn’t happen often, but it happens sometimes. We didn’t turn the car around and head back home because we were almost there, and driving back would have meant much more driving than the short distance we had to our destination. The plan that morning was for Bracken and I to help Jeff set up the booth for market and then head over to the May Faire at the Waldorf School. I helped Jeff set up a little, but mostly just unpacked the car and then Jeff set it up because I needed to care for Bracken. I drove our car to a parking spot and sat there with Bracken, hoping the break from any motion would help him feel better.
On a sidenote: The only occasions where Bracken has ever been car sick have all been on the way to market when our car was packed with market stuff and he couldn’t see out of all the windows like he normally could. So many times these last few years, while trying to squeeze things in our little car, Jeff and I have exclaimed “this just isn’t working anymore!” (And I know you’ve heard about it here. Sorry for sounding like a broken record!) Jeff mentioned recently that our car had seemed to shrink because we couldn’t fit everything in it that we used to, though it was always a challenge. {It’s a bit of a bummer that we just put so much money into our car because after this past weekend with Bracken getting carsick, we’ve officially decided it’s time to trade it in! We’ve loved our little Subaru, it’s been such a great car (and I love the gas mileage), but now we’re looking for another vehicle and are ready to find something else that suits our needs better.}
Back to the parking spot that morning: Bracken felt like he needed to throw up and while I sat holding a bag for him to throw up in, a car that was parking in front of us backed into our car. The people driving didn’t get out of their car at first. Then slowly the man in the passenger seat poked his head out and saw that I was in the vehicle, and that it wasn’t empty. Bracken didn’t have anything to throw up because he hadn’t felt well enough to eat his breakfast. As soon as he was stable, I got out of the car long enough to look at the front of our car and make sure there wasn’t any damage. Luckily, everything looked fine to me.
The people in the car in front of us seemed like they were going to hide out in their car all day, waiting for me leave before they got out. Eventually they did emerge from their car (it took quite awhile), as I sat in mine taking care of Bracken. They immediately moved to the farthest spot on the sidewalk and tried not to make eye contact with me (looking down at the ground with their sunglasses on), and clearly wanted to walk by quickly without me taking notice. I stepped out of the car, made eye contact with them, and let them know that my car looked okay and that there didn’t seem to be any damage. They seemed relieved that I spoke kindly to them, and that there wasn’t any damage, and also slightly embarrassed by the lack of integrity they had handled the situation with. Of course I wasn’t going to be mean to them, but I wasn’t impressed by their behavior and felt that I needed to say something.
That situation was annoying, and added to the crazy morning, but everything else paled in comparison to my poor boy not feeling well. All I cared about was doing anything I could to help him feel better. In the past I had handed him a bottle of peppermint essential oil and breathing in that smell helped him, but this time he took one whiff and immediately felt like he was going to be sick, which was a first. He was much more sensitive to sounds and smells than usual, since he was feeling nauseous. I waited with him for a long time and would have waited there all day if he needed to. Jeff and I just wanted to bring him home when he wasn’t feeling well, rather than sitting in some parking spot somewhere, but that would have been way too much driving. Eventually he wanted to try eating something and we went in search of popsicles at the farmer’s market, but the booth wasn’t there. That movement was a bit too much, and my sweet friend invited us to sit behind her booth until he felt well enough for me to carry him back to our car.
My friend has the biggest heart and I think just being in her loving presence immediately made him feel better. (It certainly made me feel better and my heavy mama heart that morning!) Bracken said he wanted to smell some beeswax and that smelled good to him, which was a good sign. Then he got his appetite back and wanted a honey stick. (He initially turned it down, which has never happened.) After that he wanted some strawberries, and I thought to myself that they would certainly not be enjoyable to throw up if that were to happen, but I wanted him to eat anything that sounded good to him at that point because I knew his blood sugar was really low. Then he ate and ate some more, and the color came back into his face, and he felt fine. Jeff and I were relieved, he had never been that car sick before, not even close, and I had been wondering if it was something else and he had a bug of some sort, but he was just very car sick that morning.
I felt a little tender that day and protective, after seeing him so sick, and just wanted to wrap him up in a cocoon and go home, but we had the day to spend in town. Bracken really wanted to go to the May Faire and felt completely better, and was finally ready for the drive across town to get there. Since I was sure he wasn’t contagious at that point, I agreed. Right before we left, we saw a beautiful dragonfly that landed on a pair of earrings that Jeff had made, and sat there in our booth for a long time. I said it was a good omen and that our day was going to turn around. Bracken happened to have his little bug cage with him (he pretty much brings it everywhere these days) and gently caught it and put it in there. He brought it around with him throughout the day, and then let it go at the May Faire. (What an ideal place for a dragonfly to live, I’d say.)
We didn’t have a booth there this year, since our May schedule looked like it was going to be quite full. (Later we ended up deciding not to do a festival we had thought about traveling for.) Also, rather than carrying all our things up the hill one by one to set up our booth (Jeff’s sciatic pain has gotten better, but wouldn’t like that), we decided to just set up our booth at the market that day instead (where we can unload all our things right to our booth spot.) Our day did turn around. It did our spirits good to be out in the sunshine, seeing friendly and familiar faces, and enjoying the sweetness of one of our favorite festivals of the year. I guess sometimes all you need is a dragonfly to turn your day around! Flowers, beautiful music, lovely spring weather, a maypole, and running into friends… all those things help too!
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