Do you remember your childhood puke pot? You know the one. You can’t hang out in the bathroom all day when you’re sick, so your mom or dad would make you lug around the puke pot just in case. They pushed it in your direction every single time you coughed. Just in case. Our family’s was a cast iron pot with a broken handle. You had to carry one size by the exposed screw. We all remember it fondly. Yesterday, Piper earned her very first puke pot.

It’s a bit too upscale for its purpose if you ask me. It’s my favorite stock pot from William Sonoma. My stews will probably never taste the same. I offered a plastic cleaning bucket, but Piper had an opinion about that. “It smells! I’m not going near that thing!” As if what she was planning on doing in it was going to smell like roses. Eww.

So everywhere Piper went, her puke pot did too. Luckily, after a few doses of antibiotics, it didn’t get much action. I knew Piper was feeling better when the puke pot got turned upside down into a stage for the My Little Pony show. Normally I dread these performances, but I was so relieved to see some energy back in the Piper and a tiny smile that I cheered Buttercup and Twinkle Toes on. And they made it through the entire show before Piper had to borrow back their stage. It was a grand finale I’ll never forget.