Children in just about every classroom across the United States have begun to come home with sore throats, runny noses or upset stomachs.  We as parents aren’t surprised.  We’re programmed to expect these mini viral epidemics once school starts.  We make sure the school attendance line number is handy.  We check with our backup care providers to make sure we have all our bases covered in the event of an illness.  We are prepared!  And then you receive the dreaded call at work.  Maggie is sick and in the nurse’s office.  Of course, as luck would have it, today is just crazy at work.  You want to be supportive, but not now!  You call your backup, but the phone just rings.  No answer.  You fly to the school, hoping against hope that you can talk Maggie into going back to class.  Of course that isn’t what Maggie needs.  She needs to go home, cuddle up on the couch and just rest, but this is 2007 and your life doesn’t make that scenario possible. 

You rush into the school office and see Maggie sitting on a small bench.  She’s hunched over and coughing.  When you enter the room, she looks up with a weak smile and says, “Thanks, mom.”  All your work commitments suddenly seem unimportant.  You throw a jacket over your child’s shoulders and walk her out to the car.  Yes, life is complex, but taking care of a sick child takes precedence over just about everything else.  You may have a child who needs lots of soup and cuddles, a child who is cranky, or a child who wants to be left alone, but whatever their needs in the moment, you are the parent and you understand.  It wasn’t all that long ago that you were a kid.  You remember what it’s like to need soup, cuddles, space or someone to grumble at.  I have a few more things I could add, but I hear coughing in the next room.  I better go see if my sick boy needs some tea.

Ever stop to think about how many times you use elemental language in your day to day interactions?  We talk about someone being an "airhead", a "hothead," "fiery," "raging with anger," "too airy," "well grounded," "down to earth," "flooded with emotion," experiencing "waves of grief," "tears overflowing," or having their "head in the clouds."  From children 's shows like Pokemon or Avatar to adult movies such as X-Men or Ghost Rider, we insert the science and legend of elemental energy into our very entertainment.  Analogy and metaphor are powerful tools, science is indisputable.  We innately understand that the science we learned in school applies to who we are: solid matter (earth), liquid (blood, hormones and urine), fire (electrical circuitry through heart, lungs and nerves), air (lungs and blood stream), and finally ether or space (gases--those transcendent, etheric vapors).  You can't go shopping or drive down the rode without noticing that the elements are trademarked as logos for designer clothes and cars.  Why have they become marketing tools?  Because the elements comprise who we are. They are the source from which all life springs.  

It’s Sunday night and I am tired.  As I feel the tightness in my shoulders and the weariness in my bones I realize that I need to spend some time restoring the balance.  I’ve expended more energy than I have taken in.  Consequently, I feel tired and depleted.  If I were to continue to ignore the signals, I might get sick or become emotionally shut down or depressed.  It’s dangerous to push through the fatigue, grab a cup of coffee and keep going.  Yet that is what we do.  There is much to do and not enough time in which to do it.  Television and magazines encourage, even our children to reach for that energy drink, that sweet, that power bar.  What ever happened to good food, a long night’s sleep, a refreshing walk and some peaceful time spent alone in rejuvenation?  As I listen to the rain beating on the roof, I decide it’s time for bed.  Think I’ll sleep in tomorrow.