All Shook UP

My older son has had the stomach flu for what seems like eternity. Perched on the edge of his bed all night waiting to hand him "The Bucket" has given me pause to reminisce on my own ghosts of throw up's past.
I kept him home from preschool on Tuesday though I think he might have been okay if only he had been satisfied with toast and hadn't wanted everything his brother was having for breakfast instead. I didn't want to send him prematurely and have him end up branded as "the kid who threw up at school." I never threw up at school but I vividly remember the kids who did.
Once, in elementary school, I had to escort a girl who was not feeling well from the lunchroom to the nurse's office. While waiting for the nurse, the girl threw up on my shoes.
I was not the kid who threw up during our fifth-grade class trip to the National Seashore – that was Alison. I still have a photograph of her, taken when we first arrived. She's on the top bunk unpacking her suitcase, blissfully unaware that her week is soon to turn sour.
In Ms. Lawton's seventh grade English class, it was Tim, the boy who sat directly in front of me, who leaned over his desk one afternoon and let go. He was so subtle about it that no one knew it had happened except for me, the girl with the front-row seat for the main event. Afterwards we got to go outside for the remainder of the class while the room was cleaned and aired out.
I was, unfortunately, the girl who vomited on a girl scout ski trip to Vermont. I had to go home early with one of the chaperone dads; a car ride which I now realize was equally as uncomfortable for him as it was for me.
My other throw up memory in which I play the starring role happened during my freshman year in college when I threw up into my roommate's wastepaper basket. It's not what you think either, I was legitimately sick. Stephanie wasn't in the room at the time and I thoroughly washed the trash can afterwards but I don't think she ever quite got over it. She moved out of our room soon after, taking her trash can with her.

Song: All Shook Up • artist: Elvis Presley