Ethan is sick. Poor guy. It sounds so simple, but it’s not. The final diagnosis is pneumonia – just like Gavin and I.

We have a pull out couch in our kitchen – thank goodness. It has served us well during the last few weeks.

We’ve come to call Ethan ‘the ox’, because he misses so many illnesses that come through our house. It is really shocking given the circumstances that we faced the first seven years of his life.

As an infant and young child, Ethan was often critically ill with breathing troubles brought on by both reflux and a cruddy immune system. Sure, he had the ‘normal’ kid stuff – but he got things twice as bad, they lasted twice as long and he got them five times more often than other kids. He had scarlet fever – several times. I cannot count the amount of times he had Coxsackie, Fifth’s Disease, Roseola or Rotovirus.

Oh God. Rotovirus. May you NEVER.

It is hard to remember. It is hard to go back. They were very lonely days for sure. I marvel that Dennis and I so quickly developed a skill set that allowed us to do it on a near-constant basis. We planned our first ever family vacation when he was almost 7. In NJ. We lasted 4 days…before he got sick.

His current illness reminds me of that time. It also reminds me of how blessed we are that him being this sick has been few and far between in recent years. We are so fortunate that he got stronger and healthier. We know kids who did not.

He has come so far it’s remarkable.

I never forget that Ethan is loud, demanding, funny, obsessive, opinionated, silly, and requires ‘line-of-sight’ supervision.

I do often forget that he is really remarkable. Truly.

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
— Albert Einstein