At breakfast this morning Mary announced her head itched. I immediately checked her head. She had lice. Again. For the second time in three years. I couldn’t believe my eyes.
I sent Abe a text, and he emailed me a list of eighteen things that have gone horribly wrong in our lives in the past two weeks. Sometimes it feels like our world is actually crumbling around us.
Thankfully, we caught this horribly-wrong saga before it was a full blown infestation like last time. The nits were only on one section of Mary’s head. Lydia, like last time, had none. I took courage and spent the subsequent twelve hours vacuuming, laundering, and treating heads. The girls spent the day outside because I didn’t want them to get re-infested before I cleaned all of the carpets and furniture. I opened the windows and eavesdropped on their conversations. They melted my heart by lying in the grass and daydreaming out loud about being on a rocket ship. Then they came in and retrieved their new books from yesterday and “read” them to each other.
Nothing pulled my heart more than when I blew dry Mary’s hair at the end of the day. I felt soooooo sorry for my little girl! She sobbed and cried, “Ouchy! Fire!” over and over again because the heat from the blow dryer burned her tender scalp. I apologized all over the place…but I kept going because I don’t want those nasty lice to live off my baby any longer.
It made me think of the Book of Mormon story about the people of Ammonihah who burned the righteous women and children alive. Just hearing my baby cry “fire!” was enough to bring tears to my eyes, even though I knew the pain was temporary and for her good. I can’t imagine being Alma or Amulek and watching little toddlers actually die from a malicious fire set by unbelievers. I just can’t fathom that. It is, by far, my least favorite story in the Book of Mormon.
This day was not without its bright side though. Abe actually had a great day at work, and my visiting teacher came over to check my hair for nits in the middle of the day. She has secured my love for the eternities! Also, Chelsea and I went to the parent orientation for the Let’s Play Music! we enrolled our girls in. That was exciting.