Tough Job

So, being the nice mom that I am, I went ahead and shared my flu-bug with Big T. He started up on Saturday, and finally by yesterday (Tuesday) he seemed to be doing well enough to go to school today.
Big T really, really, really does not enjoy going to school. Every night before bed he says, "No school tomorrow, mom?" Then I tell him, "Yes, you have school tomorrow." And then he whines a big "Ohhh." And yes, we go through this EVERY night. Big T is one thing for sure, he's consistant! So after days that he doesn't have school or when he's sick it's really hard for him to get back in to the school "thing" again.
He's actually pretty compliant when getting ready for school. He does whine a lot, but he'll get dressed and go through all the motions alright. You just know he really does not want to go. So this morning after all the whining and him trying to convince me that he's still sick, we drove him to school. He got out of the car and came up to the passenger window where Rojita was sitting. He had his head down, then he cocked his eye up to see me and there it was... the biggest frown you'd ever seen. And then he began to cry.
It was the saddest face I'd ever seen. It all but broke my heart. I rolled down the window and told him he'd be okay and that we'd go to Grandma's after school. He just gave me a sad "okay, mom." and off he went.
So all day I just keep picturing this sad little guy moping off to class. What I really wanted to do was jump out of the van, grab him and tell him he never had to go to school again. But of course, for the good of all, I just told him to buck up and it would all be alright. Oh, sometimes it's so hard being the tough guy.