My life in movies

I would love to sit and tell you that I don't watch t.v., that instead we all sit at night and read by firelight. I would love to say that I have never, ever rushed the kiddos to bed to assure that I see the first 5 minutes of a given show, so that I know just who it was that had some horrible thing happen to them. I must admit, sadly that I have, and most of the time I spend the first 5 minuted of said show thinking about the fact that it was terrible that I just threw my kids into bed and traded them for television.
I have found that when I write these little bits, I tend, at some times to sound a bit overly romantic. My sweet children who I am in awe of daily and my husband who was made just for me. It is all true. I do love my family. I am blessed to be a mom and wife. I have parents that I adore and who are always there for all of us. I am a lucky, lucky, blessed girl, and I know it. The problem is that I don't want any of you to think that I'm full of it. I am not.
Life can be as tragic as it is wonderful, and while it seems sometimes to be a hearty strong thing, it can just as easily be broken down. Like a dam that needs constant tending so that when the flood does come, it doesn't wash away the whole town, life and love need constant attention.
As my daughter, who is now home from her cross country romp, and I sat watching "Ya ya Sisterhood" the other night, I began thinking just how life can mimic the movies, or at least how movies certainly do mirror life. There is a scene where the character Vivi runs to her sick child only to find that all of her children have come down with the flu. She is holding one child who gets sick on her, while the others all cry, and well, she loses complete control. I believe that the movie goer is supposed to think that she completely lost her marbles. What a crazy lady, right? Well maybe, but there was a winter night in our house that went down just like that, and well(again) I almost almost completely lost control. I had been almost three nights without sleep as Middle Little was up with a stomach flu. Just as he was recovering Lady and Littlest became sick at exactly the same moment. There I was trying to direct littlest body so as to not get the sheets any dirtier than they were, and stepping in things on the floor that I shall not mention here, while Lady, across the house was calling for me. It was almost just like the movie. I began to cry(sob), and my husband began to look at me as if I had grown two or four heads, because who cries over vomit?(me obviously). But I didn't run off for three days of sleep in a hotel room, as Vivi does (although I really, really wanted to), instead I cleaned up the mess, started the washer, loaded a couple of unsalvageable things into a trash bag and carried it outside, set my foot on a fresh patch of ice, landed on the icy pavement and just sat and cried.
See, it isn't always marvelous here in the cove, but I am sure you all suspected that. We have days where bedtime is more like a scene from "Night at the Museum" . The directions say to lock the lions up before they eat you, you know. While we do have fairy tale days where everything goes according to plan, we also have days where there is enough tension to blow the roof off at any moment as in some action flick. There are moments when the boys throw down like a scene from "Fight Club". I have times when I can't keep up, days where I feel like both sides of Cinderella, the one who cleans and the one who runs off with her prince. If I am going to be completely honest, which is really the whole point here, I have days where I want to have a knock down, drag out, "War of the Roses" fight with my husband and I'm sure he has days where he wants to "Throw Mama from the Train". That's just life. Good and bad, pretty, ugly, and down right disgusting, happy, sad, and amazingly hysterical. But no matter how it is at any given moment I do know this, it is a gift, and it is up to all of us to make the best of the bad times and relish the good and maybe even hope for better. I loved the movie "Little Miss Sunshine". It is the perfect example of a family trying to do the best for their little girl while everything is going wrong. The teenage boy is tells his uncle how he wishes he could just skip the teenage years and the uncle replies that they are necessary because if you didn't have hard times how would you know how wonderful the good times are. That might be one of the most simple and wonderful things to take away. Life can be all of the things I said before, and so I can focus on the bad side of life, the hard times that everyone in their own way is dealing with, or I can focus on the good side, the raw beauty, and that is what I choose to do here, if not to tell you about it, maybe just to remind myself. Life is short we all know that, and have learned the lesson the hard way even though we are told. I want to be the parent who, when my children have a bad day, no matter how old they get, come to me for advice or assistance like I do with my parents. I want to be the kind of wife who my husband wants to come home to at the end of a stressful day, because I help him find peace. It is easy to let myself believe that to be that person for my family I have to be perfect, all smiles and no tears. I know, though, that is not the case at all, I just have to be real. In bad times, I don't need the candy coating, although a bag of MnM's does help in some situations. I need the ones who say,"Yeah, I've been there and it really sucks."
Life is all about the highs and lows and even the sideways. It is truly the the lessons learned in the hard times that help us appreciate the good. So, while the things I write here are true and very real, I also have things in my life that are not so rosy, like the day I shared about falling through the heat vent.
I will leave you with this, in "Sex and the City" , the girls are having a conversation about whether they are happy or not. They ask Charlotte how often she is happy and she says ,"Every day". The other women look at her like she is lying and her response is something like this,"I'm not saying that I'm happy all day every day, but yes, at some point every day, I am happy."
I think that pretty much sums it up, don't you?

A brothers love

We are in the final countdown until Lady Little's wheels touch down a little closer to home. It has been a month since we saw her last. A long, testosterone filled month. I am in serious need of some good old fashioned girl talk and most definitely a mani/pedi day with my firstborn. Last night as we all settled in for the night I mentioned this need to the hubs. He just didn't get it, and actually looked quite offended that my boys were not enough to make me happy. Of course it's not that at all. I have enjoyed my boy time tremendously. I have loved watching Middle Little ride his bike over his new ramp as Littlest rolled his dump truck down the hill to see what it crashed into. It's just that life with all boys in the house is a bit more rough around the edges than it is when there is a girl in the mix. Plus, my boys just don't understand a bad hair day that can't be fixed with a baseball cap and in their world there is no reason to put on makeup before a trip to the flea market. She gets those things, and I am, as we all are, ready for her to come home.
The truth is though that while the sensitivity level of our household has gone down quite a bit since she left, I am happy to say that it has not been lost all together. A testament to that was my sweet Middle's actions yesterday. Littlest had his 3 year checkup with our family doctor. With the Hubs at work I had prepared myself to take both boys. Now, I can handle heading out with both boys most days, but when a doctors office waiting room, and possibility of shots is thrown in, I tend to have anxiety over it.
The morning did not begin as I had hoped. It was filled with bickering and all sorts of disagreeing. When we arrived and I began to fill out the paperwork, Littlest began acting like one of those kids. You know the ones that you look at in the store and think, or even maybe say out loud,"Boy, if that were my child...". It wasn't pretty. His actions mixed with the fact that Middle would really rather have been anywhere else at that moment and was not too timid to tell me so, prompted me to text my sweet hardworking husband to say that the next appointment was all his. After weighing and measuring we were put into our little room. Ahhh, a controllable environment with no senior citizens to horrify. All was going well. Middle was enjoying the company of our doctor and her nurse, who he may just have the tiniest crush on. Dr. I decided that we should check Littlest's iron level. "No problem", I said way too soon. "He does really well with the finger prick".
No such luck, as the lab they use requires a blood draw. Of course they don't require that you come into the lab, they know better.
Up on the table he went and the doctor sweetly explained to him just what would happen and while it didn't really sound anything like this, this is what I heard.
"You will hold your strong willed 3 year old down while we do our utmost to get the blood before he screams."
Now remember that an exasperated Middle was in the room with us, making a mental list of all of the places he would rather be than in this tiny room with his stinky brother and his grumpier by the minute Mom. While the doctor explained what was about to happen, this is what he must have heard."NOW we're going to set your sweet little brother on this table, see, and your Mom is going to hold him down, see, and laugh at his pain while we take this huge needle and fill this bucket up with his blood. Muahahahah!"
As the procedure began it looked like it might all go off without too much drama. Littlest was being very agreeable and held his squeezy truck while they tapped his chubby arm looking for a vein. I tenderly draped myself over him and brushed the hair from his forehead as they began. He watched in awe. What male of the species wouldn't love three women talking sweetly and focusing on just them, right? And then it happened. A scream that surely shocked the elderly patients in the other rooms ripped through the examining room. I tried my best to hold him still, but to no avail as the needle popped out of his arm.
"Well, we'll have to try the other arm", the nurse explained. We all did a swticharoo, but quickly decided that the other arm was best so again we traded places. As I looked over to check on Middle I saw that he had covered his ears to block out his little brothers cries. I did my best to assure him while also doing my utmost to keep Littlest from jumping off the table.
More determined than ever we began again. Holding tightly to his legs and making way more promises than I will ever be able to keep, I tried to explain the need to hold still so that these sweet ladies didn't need a stiff drink when the shift was over.
In a whirlwind of screams and tears we finally had success. As the three of us had a short celebration of victory and told Littlest what a big boy he had been, all of our eyes fell on my sweet Middle Little. He was curled up in a ball in the chair, covering his ears and his face. Before I could reach him, our sweet physician patted his back and told him it was all done. As he sat up we all saw it. The tears that were streaming down his face were every bit as big and real as his baby brother's. It was if he had felt the same fear and pain that his brother had. He came to my side and buried his face. I reassured both of my boys, and remembered back to a few days after we brought Littlest home. The hospital called to say that I had left something. As I hung up Middle looked at me with huge eyes and asked if we had to take his little brother back. All was well as we left the appointment. The stickers and lollipops that filled both of their hands must have wiped away the trauma. I didn't need stickers, the fact that we were on our way home was enough for me.
I'm sure that we will have more bicker filled days. Middle will surely have days where he wishes he was an only child, as all children do at one time or another. But no matter what, they are siblings, and while it may be fine in their own minds to torment eachother, everyone else had better watch out. Had the ones torturing his brother been a pack of bullies and not a sweet doctor nurse duo the outcome most likely would have been very different.

5 years

We've had good times and bad, health and sickness, we've been richer and we've been poorer, we've kept our vows to love, comfort, and cherish...
In some ways the past 5 years have sped by like a lightening flash, yet at the very same time I find it hard to realize that it has only been 5 years. It has been five years of living our vows, not because we promised each other, or God, or our friends and family, but rather because we want to. I know that we will have times of want, and there may be days when it is harder to keep those vows we made. But for now, we realize how lucky we were to find each other. Not everyone finds their soul mate. We realize the blessings of friends and family, and children running amok. We are thankful for our home and our cozy beds. We are thankful for laughter that we share and comfort we give each other. And to this day and hopefully for many many more years to come, no matter what is to come, he will be by my side and I by his and out littles all around. Because I now know more than ever that I would rather live in a tin can with him, than a mansion on a hill with someone else.


I love you baby, now more than ever.

Stumbling around in heat induced delirium

The weather is HOT!! I know, I know, it's summer right? You could go back just a few posts and read where I was complaining about how cold it was and how I longed for warm weather. Now
it's here and I am once again complaining because it's hot. It's not so much that I don't like the heat. Really it doesn't bother me all that much,and seeing how I live in the mountains, it isn't as bad as my "peeps" who live in Florida. It's just that with the heat comes the heaty grumps. You know the ones where you fear anyone coming within a few feet of you on the off chance they may want to touch you, driving your body heat up a few painful degrees, not to mention the fact that they might just block the fan's cool breeze that you just spent fifteen minutes setting to blow perfectly in your direction.
The heat I believe is what has contributed to the boys new game of "Clash of the Titans". Not so much a game as it is a reenactment, which leads usually to tattling and trying to see who can say "OUCH" the loudest, thus seeing how loud my Medusa impression can get and just how far away from each other I will make them go. And yet they seem drawn back to each other with some sort of internal brotherly gravity.
Lady little has completely given up on the boys and their new pass time and has tucked herself away in her room until the exact time she will leave for her summer tour. I can't say I blame her. Sometimes it is best to be grumpy all alone.
I don't mean to make it sound like times are miserable, they're not at all. There is plenty of happy sand play and bike riding, it's just that between the hours of 3 and 6 when the sun hits just right on the house to drive the inside temps up 5 or 10 degrees its not a pretty sight.
And so I sit this morning searching for something to fill those miserably hot hours before dinner, bath and bed. In part I am also putting off the list of things to do today. The washer is running, but I dread the dishwasher. I need to clean and garden, but for now I just need a little time wasting.
My sweet techie girl introduced me to stumbleupon.com a few months ago. I'm always looking for new craft ideas and it is a fun and free way to waste time while collecting ideas for gifts. I love to be crafty. The problem is that it can get expensive, and so I am always looking to something that I can make out of something I already have. A few weeks ago I took apart the kids old bikes and organized all of the parts and made a Father's Day gift for my Dad. Sounds fun right? He will read this and wonder, but I really think and definitely hope that he will like it. I would put up a picture, but the gift is on it's way, so I will have to wait until next week so as to not ruin the surprise. Anywhoo, I love taking something and turning it into something else. Finding life in something inanimate. I am most definitely that lady that will knit sweaters out of old dryer lint when I am old, but for now I try to stick to things that are more on the "normal" side. Normal is most likely not the right word to put there but you get my meaning I'm sure.
I save cans and bottles, because you never know when you can use them. Starbucks coffee jars are really pretty when you take the wrapper off and add colored beads, and then wire them to
hang in the window. They would also make great votive holders, except I don't light candles very often, for fear that I will get caught up in craft land and burn the whole darn place to the ground. My husband knows the look I get when I am intrigued by something. He can look at me and immediately know that while he doesn't know where I am going, I am most assuredly
somewhere else. Last night my sweet girl asked me why I had cans in the dishwasher.
"I'm saving them," I said.
"For what," was her next question.
"I don't know, I might want to make something with them,".
She had a look of fear, like my answer was going to be that I was making her a new outfit for her first day of her sophomore year.
"Well, o.k., as long as you don't turn in to one of those whorder people I'm fine with it. "
I have stashes of fabric and paper, beads and paint. I just sometimes need a little help with what to do with it. As I was "stumbling" this morning I found a site that showed me how to make a gift box out of a soda can. I felt better. It looked like fun. I also learned that I'm not the only one who likes to make something out of nothing. And believe me I will show Lady little as soon as she wakes just to ease her fears.

Glorious Perspective

Good days and bad days. You know how it goes. I have days where the fear creeps up and smacks me even before I heard it creeping. Most days I'm fine, and able to appreciate all of the wonder that comes with the simple life we live. Watching the Littles grow up in this calm little cove, spending time with my neighbor/adoptive family member/garden buddy/mentor on all things, seeing my husband appear through the door after work and watching the kiddos run and announce that "DADDY'S HOME". Life is good all the time, and yet those creeping fears still seem to surface. The fact that my husband's job may just be teetering on the edge as so many are these days, and the fact that might mean that I will be adding server to my profile once again. I sometimes need to stop and remind myself that we will have food and a home, and that most importantly, no matter how bad things get we will still have those same friends and family there to love us no matter what. I see my worries and they are quickly put into perspective when I talk with that same buddy and he tells me that his wife of over 50 years is not feeling well and there will be tests and possibly surgery. I see the creeping fear in his eyes when he lets himself go to that place where his beloved is gone and he is still here. Most fear full moments
pass quickly and most times I find it quite easy to put things back into perspective. I can just open my eyes and look around, and see the situations that others are facing and realize that we have it so good. And so,the other morning while taking some pictures of my newly flourishing
garden, I thought it was time for a little inspiration. I pulled out my Bible and a stack of quote books and searched for anything to pass something on. Of course I didn't have to look for long before I found enough for 15 posts. The funny thing is that before I could get this post written, something happened that put everything just a little further into focus. As Lady little and I ran out for treats last night to celebrate the last day of school, the hubs called to let me know that the power had gone out. As we arrived back in the cove we passed all of the dark houses with doors open. Complete silence. This time rather than the power being restored within a short time it was out all evening and well into the night. I sat with my babes all huddled on the couch talking and telling stories. We watched as the first lightening bugs of the summer appeared all over the front yard, and just sat in silence as they flickered magically as far as we could see. We watched as our neighbors came by to check on a homebound family member. We watched and listened for the trucks from the power company, an then watched again as their mighty spotlights danced around looking for the problem. We talked about how things used to be, not so long ago, right in this very spot. How they used to wash their clothes in the same creek that they bathed in. The simpler times with much harder work days. Ahh how wonderful it is to gain glorious perspective. Times when you did what you did to survive and then went to sleep at night being thankful for the wonderful abundance that you were given so graciously.




Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again:Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to tall. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition, with Thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4




Not what we have, but what we enjoy constitutes our abundance.
John Petit- Senn





Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are.
Marianne Williamson




Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and yo will find rest for your souls."
Matthew 11: 28,29





This is the gift- to have the wonderful capacity to appreciate again and again, freshly, and naively, the basic goods of life with awe, pleasure, wonder and even ecstasy.
Abraham Maslow





All the really great things in life are expressed in the simplest words;
friends and family; purpose and meaning; love and work; caring and community; appreciation and gratitude.
Dan Zadra



Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into.
Wayne Dyer





We are most alive in those moments when our heart are conscious of our treasures.
Thornton Wilder






Therefore, since we have been justified though faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained
access by faith into this grace, in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings,because we know that suffering produces perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.
Romans 5: 1-5





The world is grand, awfully big and astonishingly beautiful, frequently thrilling.
Dorothy Kilgallen







What we need is to love without getting tired. How does a lamp burn? Through the continuous input of small drops of oil. What are these drops of oil in our lamps? They are the small things of daily life: faithfulness, small words of kindness, a thought for others, our way of being silent, of looking speaking and of acting. Do not look for Jesus away from yourselves. He is not out there; He is in you. Keep your lamp burning and you will recognize Him.
Mother Teresa




The Lord is my shepherd;I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; he leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Psalm 23

I thought I loved him then

When I was a girl, I would develop a crush on a boy and inevitably that boy would get a crush on one of my friends. It's just the way it was, and it was fine. I would give up on him and move on to another. I grew used to it. But then this happened and changed my life.


I saw him the first time 11 years ago this past February.


I can't tell you the first time he saw me.


I fell head over heals the very instant I saw him. The bells rang and the angels sang and God tapped me on the shoulder and whispered in my ear,"Not yet sweetie, but one day."


I don't really know even now what he heard or saw, or if God tapped him on the shoulder.
He was strong and rugged and would say whatever came to mind no matter what the recipient might think of it. He was stubborn and driven and was not about to let anyone tell him what to do or how to do it. He wasn't what I was used to. He wasn't what I knew. He was different. At first glance, he wasn't the guy that you would take home to Mom and Dad. Some of my friends thought I was crazy. I knew that there was more to this man than they were able to see. I saw it when I looked into his eyes. There was something there. There was so much more to be uncovered. Under the tough exterior of the cook, the NASCAR fan, the loud music. He would tell me that he was no good for me and I would usually reply that I knew better. No matter how hard he tried to hide the fact that he had any heart at all, I knew that his heart was good and loving and meant to beat next to mine.
It hasn't always been easy. In fact there have been times when we were both ready to pack up and walk out the door, but we didn't. By the grace of God we didn't.
All of the sides of him that I saw but didn't understand are more clear.
The stubbornness which can come across as harsh is now clearly what he uses to carry him through the days of hard work. And he works. He goes to work and comes home and works some more, not because he is a workaholic, but because he is a provider. Because he loves the fact that I love being home to see our littlest grow up. Because I love meeting the school bus, and I want to be here when my babies need me. Partly, even, because I really think he likes being around me, which at times I find amazing. The stubbornness comes through often and when three men in a grocery store parking lot "offer to take" his money, it turns to bravery, allowing his response to be that they can surely try but at least one of them is going down with him because he's going to get home to his family at the end of this day.
Somewhere deep inside was a love that is stronger than any I have ever known. The kind of love the bears a sign that reads something like this:
"These are the people that I love, and if you want to mess with them you will have to go through me first. "
The love that brings tears when he sees our daughter dressed for her first formal dance and strikes fear when she wants to ride in the car with a boy. The kind of love that gives him the strength to nearly kick down a maternity ward door to get to his wife and soon to be born son. The love that makes him love to wake up in the wee hours of his morning off to take his little boy fishing, because that's what he used to do with his father, grandfather and great-grandfather, and he wants to share the same gift of time with his own son. The love that he tried so hard to hide is stronger than I ever suspected.
You may ask if I have a sort of hero worship over romanticizing thing going on with him. Maybe so. I can admit that he isn't perfect. He has his bad days. There are times when his stubbornness can take me to my breaking point, usually when I see it in our youngest. But honestly he is perfect for me. I know without a doubt that he is the one I was meant to be with and the one I want to grow old with. Because he loves me whether I am at my worst or my best. He laughs with me when I'm at my silliest and he holds me when I cry. He tells me I am beautiful whether I am dressed up to go out or I'm in my old flannel pajamas. He loves me, not what my moods tell him or what I look like at a particular point in the day. No matter my mistakes or my successes. He loves me for me, and that truly is one of the greatest gifts he could give me.
The things I saw in him, in the first moments of the first glance were not a figment of my imagination. Maybe it was that I saw what our life could be if we just let go and let it happen. Like the song says, I thought I loved him then, and at the time I thought it was as strong as it could ever possibly be, but it wasn't. It has grown and it has gotten better, and the love has gotten stronger and grown deeper. It seems the only things that haven't changed are these few..
I still have a huge crush on him and my heart still skips a beat when I see that it's him on the other end of the phone line.
He is still the one that I want to share my days with and crawl into bed with at night, even if there is a three year old in between us.
His singing still makes me giggle, and his wink makes me melt.
The box of cookies he brings me at the end of the day, just because he knows I like them, is much sweeter than any diamond he could ever find.
When I laugh I want him there and when I'm sad it is him that I want to comfort me. I want him there to share the joys and triumphs, the disappointments and pain.
I want his hand around mine and I want my head to find that perfect spot on his shoulder.
The best part is that he is still, after all of this time, and to be completely honest even more now, my best friend that I was lucky enough to fall in love with.


Even better than that is the fact that rather than look at my crush for him and turn to my friend instead, he turned to me and said "I do."



Happy Birthday baby. I don't really know why you love me, but I'm sure glad you do. I love you more!

Life Alert Please

Littlest Little has his own littlest language which at times stumps me and even the most experienced of interpreters (Middle Little). It took me thirty or so minutes and a final pat on my legs the other night to realize that "seaewap" means "sit on your lap". He will gingerly walk into the kitchen and ask,"Wha' doin Momma?".
"Emptying the trash baby, what are you doing?"
"I doin' fine".
This conversation happens often and I love it. It makes me laugh each and every, I even provoke it sometimes.
A few days ago he walked into my room and was doing some kind of swirly thing with his arms. I smiled at him and he announced that he has "supowers"(Superpowers).
"Awesome", I said, realizing that his hands were in a flying motion and the sound he was making was that of the wind blowing by.
"You ha' supowers too mommy!"
"I do? Yeah! What are they?"
"You get cheese down."
Perfect, I thought. I'll take any superpower I can get at this point. Middle Little thinks it's pretty cool that I know how to disassemble the vacuum to remove clogs. I was deemed even cooler when I fixed his bicycle tire the other day all by myself.
Yesterday we woke up to more rain and so a morning inside was deemed necessary. I decided that with most of my early summer work done...
Start potty training......Check
Get the kids through end of year testing.........Check
Garden.............check.
Spring cleaning.....check
Littlest's birthday...check
...I decided to take down my spring decorating and put out the summer stuff. I love to change things around. It breathes new air into the house and it's kinda fun to watch the family look around to make sure they walked into the right place.
I realized that one dreaded task was way past due. I really needed to clean out the floor vents. It's a nasty job, someones got to do it and since I don't see any hands raised... I started by removing all of the vent covers and placed them into the sink to soak. Now, knowing myself very well, and knowing the fact the even though I was named for a ballerina, I was not named Grace, I thought it best to cover each hole in the floor with a chair. My superpowers have their limit you see. There are certain things I just won't do when alone with the little man. I don't climb up into the garden when no one is within shouting distance. I don't snow ski, or roller skate. Seriously if I have heard a story of anyone getting hurt doing something it is crossed of the list. I don't mow the lawn because I know a guy who cut off the larger majority of his toes once. He was all by himself and had to drive a stick shift truck to the E.R.. I also know a lady who lay in the rain for a number of hours until her daughter got home because she had broken her ankle while mowing her lawn. If it has happened to one person it might stay, two people it's gone. It's not that I live in fear and therefore base my life goals on said fear, it's just that if it isn't on my bucket list and it could cause harm off it goes. I just know my limits, and they include the fact that baths are hard to give and take with a cast on one arm, and if I break my right leg driving is out. I keep my cell in my pocket if I am climbing on anything or going into the boys closet alone. I try to be careful as the fear of getting stuck and having to holler for help or worse having to send Littlest off to the neighbors for assistance, is daunting. He would have to pass the trampoline and I'm pretty sure it would win out over his poor helpless mother. Anywhoo, I cleaned out the vent holes, and decided that it might be safe to climb up on the piano to remove the pictures from the wall and swap them out. All went well and I was sure I was in the safe zone. My supowers were indeed in working order. I was way too confident. I scrubbed the vent covers and moved all of the chairs back into place, when something caught my eye. I am most definitely one of those people who should wear the pin that says,"I don't have ADD, I just, ooh look something shiny." I decided that my corner cabinet would look pretty with a green ribbon hanging from the door pull. Forgetting where I was and that there were holes in the floor, I headed to the corner. Now it all happened so fast that I'm not completely sure of the details, but it went something like this. In slow motion of course, in a split second that felt like eternity.
"Oh my goodness where am I going. Has the earth opened and I am now on a journey into the center? Oh holy goodness. Little, tell everyone I love them. Go get help. Ahhhh. Oh I am such a goner. How am I still falling. Oh Littlest's new bike, maybe I can catch myself. Oh that hurt, not a good idea. How am I still falling. Thud. Ok now how do I get out. Whoo, is anything broken. ok. no blood. Littlest why are you just standing there, and why is there a smile on your face. Kick in your superpowers and save your mommy."
Now all of that happened in the most split of seconds as I said and yet it took me fully three hours to remember why I was headed into the corner in the first place. I still can't find the ribbon. Littlest little watched and asked his usual "Wha' doing mommy".
"Oh nothing honey, just hanging out in the floor,"I thought to myself. I think there was a slight giggle in there as well. To be completely honest I can't blame him as I most likely would have laughed had I seen someone else do what I had just done. I thought of myself half draped over the new Thomas bike, one foot in the bowels of hell and the other on carpeted floor. I pulled myself out and looked myself over. No blood or bones protruding, all fingers and toes in place, just the faint sight of blue slowly creeping up various parts of my body. Thankfully, other than bruises that I found randomly throughout the afternoon, I am fine.
It is a good story, that of the likes of some of my Dad's. With his permission I will tell some at another time. They are good, but to be honest they are a thousand times better when told in front of my Grandmother, who laughs until she cries every time they are told. Just the sight of her laughing like that will fill your heart with enough joy to last a good long while. I am honestly happy to carry on the family tradition, of not only getting hurt, but of getting hurt in the most bizarre and amusing situations.
I did learn a valuable lesson through pain. I already knew not to do anything too dangerous while alone with a three year old and I can honestly say that walking through the living room shouldn't need to be on the list. You see, last weekend my father in law fell in his yard. My husband and others laughed and teased, not because he fell, but because he wouldn't let my Mother in law get help from the neighbors. While I didn't laugh at the fall, I did when I was told the stories of the teasing and suggestions that they may need to purchase Life Alert for him. I'm honestly not sure why I was chosen but I think that possibly it was Karma that led me across the living room to my demise and when I was in just the right place it reached up, grabbed my ankle and tried to pull me into the heating duct. No matter what the reason I have learned my lesson and you bet I will be there wielding my hammer when we make the ramp for my Father in law. Don't be worried, either way. You see, my superpowers usually work well with tools, and if they kick out by some chance that day, you will surely get to hear the story.