Sometimes, my mom can be really weird.

One Sunday night, when my aunt Zoey was driving me home, I told her sometimes my mom acts weird. She looked at me in the rearview mirror, her smile big and bright, and  asked, “Oh? What do you mean, Savannah?” We were singing along with the music, Aunt Zoey turned it off.

I took a deep breath. “Well,” I said.  “She has been acting weird this week. On Monday, she picked me up early from school, right before lunch! She said we were going on an adventure.”

“And, did you?” 

“Oh yes! We drove to the beach. We had a picnic and searched for buried treasure! We went to all the stores too! Mom bought me this pretty necklace, see?” I held out my new golden chain with the pretty blue and white heart-shaped crystal. “We found an old book with funny writing in it.  Mom said it must have belonged to a wizard. He hid it from the pirates and now we have to hide it too! When we got home, we started to paint my room to look like the ocean! And Mom found this old box we put the magic book in. And then, Mom hid it in the-” I stopped. I covered my mouth with both hands. I almost told Aunt Zoey about Mom’s special hiding place.

She gave a short laugh. “It’s ok.”

“I was scared the pirates would find us, so Mom promised to stay up all night to watch out for those pirates. And, she did! Because on Tuesday, when I woke up, Mom was still sitting by the window watching. When I got home from school, there were two dogs sitting with Mom by the window. She said they were going to help her look out for those pirates but she needed to get their nails trimmed because they already scratched up her arms.”

“Why didn’t your new dogs didn’t come with you this weekend. Are your neighbors taking care of them?”

I sighed.  “We don’t have them anymore. On Wednesday, they were gone. I don’t know where they went. I asked Mom where’d they go, but she didn’t know what I was talking about. I said,’Remember, Mom? We found that magic wizard’s book that we have to hide from the pirates.  The dogs are going to help guard us!’ 

“But she said she didn’t know what I was talking about and sent me to my room for being rude and fibbing!”

I couldn’t help it. I started shouting. “I didn’t fib, Aunt Zoey! I didn’t!” I kicked the seat in front of me.  Luckily, no one was sitting in the front or else I would have been told I was being rude. Again.

“I believe you, kiddo.” Aunt Zoey’s voice was soft and kind.

I looked out the window and watched the trees zip by. “I liked those dogs.  I was going to name them Rufus and Princess Jasmine. Princess Jasmine looked like that dog from that one movie, you know the one where the dog plays basketball?”

“Yeah, I know it. I like those movies. They are sweet.”

“Yeah.” My throat started to ache and my eyes burned.

“You ok, cookie?” My aunt calls me the silliest names.

I nodded. I started to cry. I don’t mind crying in front of my aunt. She never tells me to stop or to be brave or a big girl. She says sometimes your feelings are just too big and you have to let them spill out or else.  She never did explain  or else what. I asked, but she never said.

“Yeah. I just don’t understand why Mom said I was making up stories and made me go to my room.”

“That doesn’t sound fair at all. What happened on Thursday?” Aunt Zoey asked me.

“Nothing, really.” I sniffled. I used my sleeve to wipe my nose.

“Nothing?”

“Nooo…when I left for school Mom was asleep. When I came home, she was asleep.  Sometimes she does that a lot. It’s ok. I know what I have to do on Thursdays: lock the doors, don’t answer the phone, do my homework, and when I get hungry, make a peanut butter sandwich and wait for Dad to pick me up for my overnight. Well…” I stopped. Would Aunt Zoey tell on me?

“Well, what?”

“I’m supposed to make a peanut butter sandwich. On Thursday, I made a bologna and cheese sandwich, drank Mom’s special chocolate coffee milk, and watched cartoons.”

Aunt Zoey laughed. “Don’t worry, Georgia peach,  your secret is safe with me.”

“I went to go tell Mom Dad was here and I was leaving. But, Mom’s room was all dark. I mean there were towels and blankets covering the windows. It looked like a cave. I wanted to look at that wizard’s book again..but I couldn’t see anything. Even the light switch didn’t work! I don’t know. I think I heard Mom crying too. I said “Mom?” But she didn’t answer me. So I tried to make her laugh. I wanted to make a joke. I  said “Blackbeard is here, Mom! He is gonna take me away on his pirate ship!” But she didn’t laugh or say anything. So I left with Dad. I hope she doesn’t think real pirates came for me!”

“It’s ok. Your mom knows you’re with us. But you’re right all of that stuff Marisol did does sound weird,” Aunt Zoey said.

“See! I told you sometimes Mom is weird.”

Aunt Zoey asked, “Savannah, how about we go get a cheeseburger before I take you home? I am sure your mom is tired from her shift at the hospital and won’t feel like cooking. How about it?”

I felt better already. Aunt Zoey knows all of the best places in town to get cheeseburgers or rainbow sprinkles on your ice cream or fresh strawberries.  She really likes good food. She always says “good food feeds your soul!” whatever that meant. I guess sometimes Aunt Zoey can be weird too.

When we got to the restaurant, after we placed our order, I think Aunt Zoey wanted to talk on her phone without me around because she let me go play in the ball pit. Normally, Mom and Aunt Zoey won’t let me do that because they don’t want me to get distracted or dirty. Sometimes some grownups will do that, you know. Tell you to go do something they usually say don’t do just so they can talk on their phone.

Pretty soon, Aunt Zoey called my name. She made me wash my face and hands twice before we ate. After the cheeseburgers, Aunt Zoey and I were sipping on our milkshakes.  She looked deep in thought. She didn’t even try to blow bigger bubbles.

“Savannah, I have to tell you something about your mom.”

Suddenly, my stomach hurt. I didn’t want my milkshake anymore. But, I felt like this was super important and I had to be brave. Aunt Zoey had her “I-am-going-to-talk-to-you-straight-” tone.

“Now I am just going to talk to you straight,” she said.

I nodded.

“Do you remember when you had the flu last year?”

I nodded.

“You had a fever, your body hurt, and you had to sleep a lot to get better?”

“My mom has the flu?” 

“Sort of. Sometimes your mom gets like a flu for her feelings and her mind.  They call it a big fancy word, which isn’t important for you to know.  When your Mom catches a bout of this flu , it can make her act weird.”

“Hmmm.  When I had the flu, Mom took me to the doctor. I had to take that grape medicine. It was gross.”

“It is kind of the same thing. Only your Mom has a different kind of medicine. Some medicine you take for a short time because you only need it for a little bit, like your flu stuff. And, some medicine you have to take every day so it won’t cause a problem, almost like a vitamin. You understand?”

I nodded.

“Your mom takes the second kind of medicine. It helps her emotions and mind to not get wonky. Sometimes she will be wonky or act weird, as you called it. But it’s ok. Your mom has been dealing with this for a lot of years now. She knows exactly what to do so she won’t be feeling wonky again. And you did the right thing by telling Aunt Zoey about it. Thank you.

“So, I called your dad-“

“But-” I interrupted.

Aunt Zoey held up her hand. “A different chat. He said Mom already is working on fixing it. She called him and she called her doctor. Her doctor told her she needed to go to the hospital for a few days so they can give her a new medicine.”

“Why a new medicine?” I asked.

“You know how sometimes you get bored if you have to watch the same TV show or play the same game over and over again? It just doesn’t make you laugh anymore? Our body can sometimes do that with medicine we take for a long time. When your body gets bored with its medicine, people call that a tolerance. It just means the doctor has to find a new medicine to work again.”

“Is mom going to be ok?” Finally, I was brave enough to ask the big scary question on my mind. 

“Yep.”

I stared at Aunt Zoey a long time. She stared back.  I do that because sometimes grownups try to make me feel better by telling me a fib. I don’t understand why it is ok for a grownup to fib, because when I do it, I get sent to my room.  I didn’t think Aunt Zoey was fibbing. As far as I could tell, she has never ever told me a fib. 

“Ok, but what if the doctor can’t find Mom a new medicine?”

“How smart is your mom?”

“Super smart!  She teaches people how to become doctors!”

“So don’t you think if she is smart enough to do all of that, working together,  your mom and her doctor will find her a new medicine?”

“Hey, yeah. You’re right!”

“So what this means is you are going to stay with your dad, Grandma, and me for a few more days while Mom is in the hospital. Ok?”

“Ok. Can we go see Mom?”

“Sure, just not today. We will try another day.”

Aunt Zoey took me home to get some more stuff. The whole ride we listened to more songs and she told me stories about her favorite books when she was a kid. She is always trying to get me to read.  

It was two whole weeks before I could see my mom.  Dad and Aunt Zoey drove me to the hospital.  I don’t mind hospitals.  I know they smell bad and have the strangest noises, beeps and whistles, but for me it’s like a giant alien spaceship or something.  I know it isn’t a place to play, but a place for really sick people to get better. I still like to imagine it is a spaceship.

When we got to the hospital, Dad and Aunt Zoey both held my hand on the elevator. When the elevator stopped we were behind a giant glass wall. We had to wait for a guard to open the door for us.  He led us down a hallway and into a big room.  The room had a couch in front of a big TV, lots of tables, a shelf with board games and a piano in the corner. I ignored all of that because there was my mom sitting at one of the tables waiting for us.

Her long beautiful hair was down. She had on her favorite set of pajamas, the ones I gave her for her birthday. She looked tired but she had a big smile on her face.  When she saw me, she gave me the biggest tightest hug ever.

“I missed you,” she said. She kissed my face and neck.

“Me too!” I hugged her more. “Is it gone now? Your mind flu? Can you come home?”

Mom took my hand and led me over to the big couch. She sat down and pulled me on her lap.  “Savannah.” Mom had her “this-is-important” tone.

“This is very important, Savannah,” Mom said.  “My “mind flu” will never go away.  I will have this forever.  There will be times that I will feel perfectly fine. And then there will be times when I won’t and will have to stay here for awhile.  No matter what, I want you to know that I love you very much and I am proud of you.”

She squeezed me tighter. “I am sorry I made you go to your room for fibbing. I did adopt Rufus and Princess Jasmine. And, then I took them back to the shelter. That wasn’t a nice thing to do and Mom is very, very sorry. Your father promised that if another family hasn’t adopted them, he will adopt them and take them to Grandma’s house.”

“It’s ok, Mom.” I patted her shoulder.

“My ‘mind flu’ is very complicated. As you get older, we will tell you more about it.  Some of it is just too complicated for a nine-year old to understand right now. But we promise to answer any questions you may have as best we can, ok?”

I was playing with my mom’s hair and thinking about all of the adventures I was going to have with Rufus and Princess Jasmine.

“Mom, when will you come home?”

“Soon, Georgia peach. As soon as I can.  Do you want to play a game with me?”

I hopped down off of my Mom’s lap and ran over to the shelf with the board games.  I spent the whole visit drawing pictures and playing games with Mom.  

Dad, Aunt Zoey, and I walked back down the hallway and towards the glass wall and elevator.   “We will come see your mom again next Saturday, ok? Your mom loves you more than anything! Don’t you ever forget, ok Savannah?”

“I won’t. I promise.”