Puke

As a child, I must have had plenty of worst nightmares.

Like my friends finding out what boy I had a crush on. Or like falling off the monkey bars and cracking my head open. Or my dog dying. Or my mom not being home when I got off the school bus.

But probably my worst of the worst nightmares I had as a child was puking in public. Or just puking at all. Back in the day, when I was about four feet tall, I took ballet lessons. After one of my ballet recitals, my family and I stopped by Taco Time since it was late and we were starving. Later that night, I remember waking up and feeling completely sick to my tummy. In a half sleepy daze, I attempted to scurry down the ladder from the top of my bunk bed, where my brother Jace was sleeping peacefully in the bottom bunk. I then blindly wandered through the darkness and down the hallway toward the bathroom. I was determined to make it to the toilet. Well, my stomach beat my determination and I puked all over the wall. It's a scarring moment which I'll probably have engraved in my brain forever.

Luckily, that was my very worst experience throwing up. I remember watching many a kid chuck up on the school bus, leaving the rest of the kids to suffer through the rest of the ride with the putrid smell of throw up reeking through the vehicle. I couldn't help but always feel terrified for the thrower-upper. What a horrible and degrading experience; to be the kid who threw up on the bus.

Last Sunday, I had the not so great experience to deal with some puke. So I serve in the Primary at my church now and have been for a couple months now. I teach the four-year-old children, and let me tell you, it's a jolly good time. While sitting and enjoying singing time last Sunday, one of the girls in my class was acting odd. She is usually the type to be very animated and dramatic and very involved in everything going on. She wasn't acting so on this day. On this day, she was slumping over in her chair, sprawling out on the floor and making small whining noises. She then informed me and my partner teacher that her tummy hurt. So we took her to her dad. He soon brought her back and informed us that she was just being dramatic and was fine.

Well, he was wrong. Real wrong.

About ten minutes later, the girl came up to me and said, "Teacher, I still don't feel so good." So I rubbed her back and told her I'd take her to the bathroom. Promptly after telling her this, puke suddenly escaped her mouth. I jumped back and watched the throw up land on the ground where my shoes had just been. With that, I grabbed her arm and drug her into the hallway and in the direction of the ladies' room.

We never made it. She threw up two more times. I'm pretty sure she had peaches for breakfast.

Her parents came pretty soon after and began cleaning up her puke. In the meantime, I sat on the couch and rubbed the girl's back and wiped off her face. When I asked her if she was alright, she sadly replied with, "My dress is dirty," and she pointed to the spot on her dress where some puke must have dribbled.

Puke is bad. And watching a kid puke is just heartbreaking.

I don't plan on having kids for a while.