I was all in bed, nice and early, ready to read a little and do my writing when I started hearing crying coming from the bathroom area. Annika wasn’t feeling well. She wanted me.

I went, of course. I couldn’t not. The problem is, the one illness I can’t actually deal with very well is vomiting. I can’t stomach it. I will literally throw up if I see someone throwing up. It’s like my mirror neurons are really sensitive to barfing. So every time she starts having stomach aches, or starts crying that she feels sick, I start feeling sick.

She had a bucket and sat in the bathroom, sipping water and spitting it out, upset because she felt so bad. I started feeling bad in two ways. 1) I felt bad for her, because there is nothing in the world like watching your kid hurt. I just want to end her pain however I can; it’s a primal urge. 2) I started feeling queasy because she is queasy and so obviously I should be too. That’s how smart my body is when it comes to these things.

Annika started feeling better and finally went to her bed, turned on an audiobook or a podcast or something, and went to sleep. I checked on her to make sure she was doing okay, and she shooed me out. Ok.

Now I’m in bed feeling kind of nauseous and I can’t lay down because my tummy feels icky and I’m totally annoyed. I’m jealous because she’s out cold, but not really because I’m just happy she’s feeling better and I am not sitting in the bathroom rubbing her hair, praying she gets better. Now I’m sipping on water and trying to calm down.

Is this typical? Is this just me? Am I the only one who gets sympathy sick with people? Ugh. It’s the worst.