I have to pick my daughter up for a doctor’s appointment today.

I remember as a kid getting picked up from school once or twice to visit the doctor, and really enjoying the escape from school!

As a parent, the experience is somewhat less thrilling. Gotta make the appointment, or have it made by your ex-wife. Luckily, the appointment rests right in your lunch time, so you won’t miss much work and have to make it up. Unluckily, it lands right in your lunchtime, so you will miss your lunch!

Factoring in drive time (Yes, even in Brownwood!), office waiting time, and prescription time, you use up the better part of your hour (if you’re lucky) sitting down.

And if your child has to get a shot? Forget the sitting. It’s now wrestle to keep them in the seat, try to allay all fears of the pain that comes with a shot, (a little pinch? My foot! I hate shots now, and I’m almost 36!) and all the while ignoring the rumbling in your stomach that will not be quieted!

So, visit over, meds picked up, and treatment plan in place, all you have to do now is decide if they’re too sick to return to school, and if so, what to do with ‘em! Do you bring them to the office with you and hope they can keep boredom at bay with your collection of binder clips and rubber bands? (Paper clips make GREAT missiles!) If they’re old enough, do you trust them enough to leave them home alone for the couple of hours it’ll be before you get off? (Really, Dad, the walls were that color when you moved in, I swear!)

Once you get them settled, it’s time to make sure you have the doctor’s note for the return to school, reclaim your workflow from earlier so you can be seen as super productive even after taking the kiddo to the doctor, and make sure you have given meds that need to be given. With a snack if they have to eat while taking it.

What’s that noise…

Yeah, that’s YOUR stomach, reminding you that you still haven’t eaten lunch.

Ben Cox is the morning show host of “Ben Cox in the Morning” on KQBZ, 96.9 FM in Brownwood Texas. He is the new in-stadium voice of the Howard Payne Yellow Jackets football team, & Ben is also an event DJ for weddings, parties and the like, and can be contacted through the Brownwood Area Chamber of Commerce.

The thoughts and comments reflected in this column are those of the writer alone, and do not necessarily reflect those of Wendlee Broadcasting, or its affiliates.