This Reminds Me

This weekend, Julia threw up for the first time since she’s been in San Antonio. I hardly had time to think about her.  Another family member was ill.  And – being the devoted mother that I am – I was more worried about him.

Remember Keith got me a Roomba and a Scooba for Christmas?  I love them still.  In fact, Rachel asked me, “Mom, if the house were on fire, who would you save first?”  I just leaned over and patted the cool, shiny metal of my dear Roomie, quietly recharging on his docking station.

But this weekend, Roomie hiccup’ed.  He would vacuum for a moment, then quit.  What was wrong?  I racked my brain.  I faithfully dump his dust catcher and scrape off his little filter with every use.  His cleaning brush had only a few strands of hair wrapped around it, as I’d used a knife to saw that rope last week.  I knew he was fully charged.   Tearfully, I cradled him in my arms, then laid him gently in Keith’s lap.  Keith’s hands disappeared inside as he told Roomie to “cough.”

Look what Keith found packed in Roomie’s poor “innards” -

Hair, dust and I-don’t-wanna-know.  This funk didn’t come out of his filter or his dust catcher.  This mess was jammed in poor Roomie’s tummy.

Joyfully, I returned Roomie to his appointed rounds.  But no.  He still wasn’t well.  So Keith did some reading on i-Robot user boards and discovered another possible cause.  Alas – surgery was in order.

Now Roomie was ready to get back to work.  Finally!  And what a fine job he did, sucking up all the pond dust and other mess that accumulates on our bedroom floor, even though the laminate looks “clean.”    I ask Roomie to vacuum about every other day.  He doesn’t whine or roll his eyes or sigh or escape to the bathroom.  He just gets to work.  No wonder I love him so.

Roomie seems fine now.  Whew!  I was so worried.

p.s.  Oh yeah.  Julia seems fine, too.