Work. Stressful, frantic, hard work.
Kids. Small, busy, beautiful kids.
And life. Life is happening all over the place. Including a spectacular kick in the teeth, like life can only give it. My mother-in-law is sick. In intensive care. For five weeks now. You know that oil spill thing? Seems like forever now, doesn’t it? She doesn’t even know that happened.
It was sudden and unexpected. Not all that different than being struck by lightening, statistically speaking. It has been horrific. Substantially worse than being struck by lightening. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. And I’m no pacifist.
Liz has been away from the kids and I a lot. Sometimes racing off frantically, fearing the worst. Our routine has broken down completely. The easiest things have become difficult. The difficult things go undone.
I’ve been doing my best to keep the kids happy. It’s been working, for the most part. Yet with Thomas being Thomas, it has been impossible to hide from him. We’ve dealt with this the same way we deal with everything else; we’ve told him the truth. We haven’t made any promises we can’t keep. Even when he spontaneously voiced his concern that the worst might happen: “Sometimes, in my head, I think that grandma might die.”
Five weeks ago, just as this was starting, I watched Thomas have a complete meltdown because the wait staff at a restaurant threw his drawing away. (Jerks.) How would he handle losing one of his favorite people? How will I tell him?
And yet, it might not come to that. As bad as things have been, as bad as they could be, the doctors say a complete recovery is a real possibility. That six months from now this could be just a memory. (A really awful memory.) So we wait. We wait and hope. We wait and pray. And while we wait, life goes on.
I bought an iPad. Caroline loves it.
I signed Thomas up for league soccer. There will be uniforms. He’s extremely excited.
Thomas and Caroline have taken to dancing and singing along with “Jessie’s Girl”. Repeatedly. It’s cute. And repetitive.
I totally botched Mother’s Day. I’m an idiot.
Thomas is graduating from preschool this Friday. He’s extremely proud. I think it’s a bit silly.
And there’s more in the works. Always more.
That’s what’s happening.
Life. Crazy, awful, wonderful life.
7 Comments
Jessies girl? Interesting choice. I think I might prefer that over Miley’s party in the USA which is on eternal repeat here.
Sigh. Life. The thing about it is that it’s constantly changing. For shit sometimes and sometimes for the bettter. It will get better. It will.
Comment from my precious….I um mean Stella, my iPad.
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I know it has been one hell of a roller coaster ride. My heart has ached for all of you.
There are better days ahead, my friend. I just know it.
Love you all!!
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Oh man! I hate it when life steamrollers me! There’s nothing like a family illness to add stress! I hope you are remembering to take care of yourself too but I know how hard it is to struggle to stay on top of everything and still find the time/energy to make time for self-care. I’ll keep your family in my thoughts!
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I’ll be keeping you in my thoughts, hoping for the best possible outcome, and that you keep having the energy to hold everything together for your family. *hug*
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Sorry to hear about Liz’s mom. Been through that whole explaining illness and death thing with DJ a number of times now and it doesn’t get any easier. You’ve got the right approach about being honest and not making promises you can’t keep. That’s the only way to go. I’ll be keeping all of you in my thoughts. And if you ever need a break, I’ve got a couple kids who would love to go jump off of scary high concrete barriers with your children. ;)
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Oh my gosh! I had no idea! Please give Liz a hug for me. It’s SO hard….I know.
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So sorry for all the stress. Life has a way of kicking us in the teeth when we least expect it. I hope things improve soon. xo
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