It’s scary to think how little I knew about taking care of kids when I started having them. I don’t know, maybe there’s just so much more to be aware of now. Babies seem to need additional paraphernalia these days. And, it seems there are so many more diseases parents have to worry about.

Five-month-old Vivian is on the downhill side of RSV, Respiratory Syncytial Virus. I’d never heard of it before, but it’s rough. Evidently it can go into pneumonia and it picks on babies and the elderly. After a visit to the pediatrician she was prescribed a nebulizer. Viv looks like a mini Darth Vadar receiving foggy breathing treatments from a smiling penguin while Jill sings and dances to distract her. It’s quite a scene.

The girls’ stay in Missouri was extended because of the RSV. Jill sent me a text from the downstairs bedroom the other night. “Please find my phone charger and bring it down if you would. The battery is almost dead.” The guest bedroom looked like someone had ransacked it searching for valuables. There was baby stuff everywhere, so I carefully made my way to the bed not knowing what I might step on or in.

Viv was finally sound asleep on Jill’s chest. Not wanting to move she whispered, “Could you plug in the charger?”

I squeezed between the pack-and-play and the bed trying not to knock over the cool mist humidifier. Then I got down on my hands and knees under the bedside table to find the electrical socket. I was in total darkness fumbling for the plug in when I raised up banging my head on the table biting my tongue.

I sat down on the floor trying to laugh quietly. All of a sudden I remembered I had installed a new app on Droid, a flashlight. With two clicks I had a tiny beam and plugged in the charger.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “It’s better to light a candle than curse the darkness.” One little light made all the difference for me. Just like remembering I had a flashlight, I wish I could remember to always look for something positive in the midst of all the negative. Why, so many times, do we find ourselves complaining about everything that’s wrong instead of looking for something, no matter how small, that is good and right?

It was a rough 10 days for sweet baby Vivian. She was so sick, and we all wanted to curse the darkness. But, I had a chance to watch my daughter be a mother willing to dance and sing to make breathing treatments more fun for her daughter.