Monday, March 22, 2010

Real Life 101 Is Not An Elective.

We all have to take this class.

Lesson 1 - Everybody makes mistakes.
 
Today we showed up at the dentist at 10:00 a.m. which is early for us (since I worked until nearly midnight the night before) only to find out that our appointments are next week.  So next Monday, we have to go again.

Lesson 2 - Decisions have to be made, even when you don't know what you're doing half the time.  


We did make it to the orthopedist's office and it was the correct date and time.  We talked to him for a long time but it was kind of a confusing talk.  Apparently, there is swelling of the bone marrow and what we thought was free floating chip of bone is kind of next to the other bone but not in the right place, so he does need surgery.  However, if we want to decline the surgery we can and the ankle will stay about like it is or maybe get a little better, maybe not.  (See, I told you it was confusing.)  Anyway, if he does the surgery, he'll go in arthroscopically so the incision won't be very big and then he'll take out the chip and drill some holes in the bone to help it heal.  Then oldest son will have to be completely non-weight-bearing, not even touching a toe to the floor for 6 weeks.  My son is the most hopeless ever on crutches so he'll probably have to use a walker.  That will be kind of weird.  We're going to sleep on this decision, but we'll probably go with the surgery.  I don't want his ankle to always hurt.  If he is completely opposed to it when we talk tomorrow, I'll consider his opinion though.  He's almost 18 and it is his ankle.

Lesson 3:   You can't go back in time and make accidents not happen.

This is what oldest son was wishing today.
 
Lesson 4:   Be flexible, creative and take initiative.  Don't be afraid of work.
 
While we were gone, the other 2 kids worked on the laundry room without being told to!  We're trying to re-organize it and paint it.   We do kind of a "family closet" kind of thing in there.  My youngest went through his clothes, sorted and put most of the winter ones away.  My daughter is working on the painting and I have given her permission to do whatever she wants with the paint we have, so she's doing a tree mural in there.  It looks good. I don't have any decorating preferences for that room, I just need it to be a bit neater and better organized and able to store a lot of things. 

Lesson 5:  Sometimes things are hard.

Our church wants to put a clock in the sanctuary in honor of my Dad.  The also want to have another memorial service and dedicate the clock in his memory at that time.  I think it's very nice and all, but I don't think I can do another memorial service.  I almost didn't survive the first one.


Lesson 6:  Treat others with kindness and be willing to forgive.

I got up this morning with a horrible backache and quickly developed an awful headache to go with it.  Between the "dentist appointment" and the doctor appointment, I sat in my comfy chair for a nap which is sometimes all that will work for my headaches.  There was a Spiderman blanket in my chair so I covered myself with that and went to sleep.  Youngest son saw that I was using his blanket and came over and grabbed it, waking me up (he says he didn't know I was asleep), so I had to go to the doctor with my headache and my back in spasm, when both, I think would have probably been helped with the nap.  I was very angry when awakened and grounded him for life.  He has since apologized and I have forgiven him, but he's still grounded for at least 2 weeks.  That's not how our family treats each other.  Period. 

So does this count as a school day?  I think we all learned something ...

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