Emily’s Musings

Hannah is sick. Paris is sick. And since I am usually sick everyday, this makes one sick household. This is Hannah’s first experience being sick. We are very grateful she has been so healthy for 18 months, especially on this island that is lacking good medical care. Our little one has all the symptoms of the flu, except she doesn’t have a fever and this nasty bug has lasted more than 24 hours.

This morning we needed Pedialyte in a serious way. Not wanting to take the chance of Hannah puking all over herself and her car seat while driving to the store to pick some up, I was stuck with a small problem. I called one of the four grocery stores, and talked to the store owner. This is what happened:

“Hi, is this Addie?”

“Yes”

“Hi, this is Emily, Hannah’s mom (because she only knows me this way; I am the invisible mom). She is really sick and needs some Pedialyte. I don’t want to drive down there and chance her vomiting all over in the car, so could you put two liters of the fruit flavored Pedialyte on my account? I will have a friend pick it up and deliver it to my house.”

“Sure! On, I’m so sorry Hannah is sick. Get her feeling better.”

Thirty minutes later, I have two liters of Pedialyte delivered to my house. I will miss the personal touch Saba offers. I guarantee when I get back to the states I won’t be calling the owner of the local grocery store and asking them to pull items off the shelf, add the amount to my account, and allow a stranger (this friend is new to the island) to walk out of the store with the unpaid for items. This island offers a personal touch that I know I won’t find anywhere else.