If your son wakes up with an ear-ache...

If your son wakes up with an earache, you might decide to take him to the walk-in clinic up the road. You go to the clinic, because you live in Eastport and for the life of you, you can't find a good pediatrician's office closer than 25 miles away and so you find that for the little things, the clinic works just fine.    

When you walk into the waiting room, you will quickly scan the room to judge the length of your inevitable wait, depending on how many other people you see.  On a day like today, you will breathe a sigh of relief when you notice only two other people sitting there.  

While you wait, your son will read you interesting facts from the National Geographic Kids Almanac, because he is smart like that.  He may ask you who was the president was when you were born, to which you will realize that you can't remember.  When he tells you it was Ronald Reagan, you'll say, "Oh yeah, I remember that guy."  

When you finally get called, you'll head on back to the examination room.  You'll watch your eight year old son hop up on the table and you'll ask yourself, "Where did the time go?"  When you try really hard, you will still be able to see his sweet baby face, but you'll quickly realize that your once tiny baby is now almost as tall as you are.  

Upon closer examination, you'll also realize that your 8 year old is starting to outgrow his Size 10 jeans, and you'll make a mental note that a trip to Savers for Size 12s will be needed soon.  

While you wait, your silly son will entertain himself by pretending to sleep.  He will inevitably make those fake sleeping noises that we all make when we pretend sleep and they will make both of you laugh hysterically. 

While you wait, you will also check out the medical supplies that are sitting on the counter and you will wonder who in the world would need to clean out their ears with Q-tips that long.  

Your son may ask you to read some of the medical pamphlets that are in the room, so you will hand him the "Heartburn and Acid Reflux" one, because that one seems to be the only appropriate one for him to read.  He will probably just laugh at the picture and right about then the doctor will finally walk in.

Thankfully, the diagnosis will be quick.  You'll make small talk with the doctor and learn that some people think that many ear infections can heal on their own, but you will still be quite happy when she hands you a prescription for antibiotics.  

Afterwards, you will head next door to Rite Aid, where you will happily wait out the twenty minutes, because you just really like that store.  You will pick up your favorite toothpaste, a new stapler for your craft loving daughter and snacks for Kids Club.  When your prescription is finally ready, you will head out the door, happy that your son is on his road to recovery and thankful that it only took an hour and a half to get everything fixed.  You'll breathe a quick prayer of thanksgiving and continue on to the rest of your day.