To every mum who has ever had to deal with sick children, you will know that feeling of how you will literally do anything to make them feel better.
Which is what mum-of-three Kelli Bannister was trying to do with her youngest daughter – and that her 5-year-old son managed to get a picture of. A picture that has since gone viral and struck a cord with mamas everywhere, as it really sums up the emotive and raw reality that is motherhood.
After her two sons got the flu, Bannister’s youngest child also caught the bug. As 1-year-old Summer coughed herself to tears, Kelli tried to calm her daughter in the shower, hoping the warm water would help. “My Mumma instincts kicked in and I put us both in the shower, with the soothing sound of running water and the warmth touching our skin, she was calm within minutes,” Kelli wrote on Facebook.
As the exhausted pair was cradled in the shower, Kelli’s son, Taj, came in to let his mom know that she had received a text message, then took a few photos of his mom soothing his sister. Kelli didn’t remember that Taj had snapped any photos until later that day and was left speechless by what she found on her phone. “When I saw this particular image I was actually quite taken back at how real and raw it was,” Kelli told the Daily Mail Australia. “A moment of pure exhaustion but an incredible bond of unconditional love between a mother and child.”
Kelli shared the stunning snapshot on Facebook with an honest message about how caring for a sick child is the worst part of motherhood. “The part nothing or no one can prepare you for, the part where you would give every ounce of your entire being to make your poor baby feel OK again,” Kelli captioned the black-and-white photo. “Every cry and every tear makes your heart break just that little bit more and your only wish is that it was you instead.”
Here is her full post:
Beautiful.
