When Life Gives You Lemons (or Mangoes)

Sometimes life is just hard. And I know “hard” is relative. There is hard, as in cancer-hard, which this is nowhere even close. But for my 14-year-old daughter, this is hard.

It started with a birthday party and a stroll out in the tropical air. The girls decided to pick the not-yet-ripe Mangoes from the tree in the yard. There may have been a game of catch. Madilyn remembers the sap feeling sticky and difficult to remove from her hands.

24 hours later, Madilyn’s face, neck, and right arm erupted in a terrible rash. The rash spread quickly and reminded us of Madi's reaction to poison ivy. A search on google confirmed the sap of the mango tree has the same skin-irritation effect as poison ivy. Oh crap.

Two doctor appointments. One shot. Ointment. Cold showers with special soap. A double-dosage of Predisone. Four missed days of school. And still very little improvement.

Today was the 8^th grade farewell celebration. We had looked forward to this evening a lot. We had found a beautiful peach-colored lace dress. There was going to be a dinner with parents followed by a slide-show. We had picked these two pictures for the slideshow: 

Elise and Madi in Hong Kong for AMIS Choir

Madi, age 6, enjoying snow in Virginia:

Tonight I have to fill-in for all these things she will miss. And I feel so inadequate. I love her so much and want her life to be filled with good things.

Here’s what helps:

Baskin Robins "Pralines and Cream"

Anatolia’s (chicken kabobs) 

And "X-men" at the fancy theater with the lazy boy seats and soft blankets.

I’m proud of Madi for trying to stay positive, even though it’s pretty hard. She even laughed about how someday this experience will make a great lesson to use in Young Women’s or a scene in a novel.

Madi also mentioned there have been a couple perks. One: she told Charlotte if she gets too close, she’ll get the same rash. Charlotte hasn’t tried to climb on or touch Madi for 3 days! (A record). Another perk: book reading time. I think Madi has read one book a day for the past four days.

That’s my girl.

There was a moment at the movie theater that seems frozen in time for me. Elise and Madi sat in the seats in front of Owen and I. They adjusted their seats to the full lay-out position, until the backs of the seats touched the floor. They got giggling so hard. Madi looked back at us, laughing. And for a moment I forgot about her missed 8th grade celebration and the rash. We were together. We felt happy.

And in that moment I realized, family and laughter can heal even the worst things life can throw at us.