Today was gorgeous. I could not soak enough of it up. We stayed outside forever. Picnics. Bike rides. Walks along rivers.
I was intent on fully soaking up the beautiful smells the warm fall day, the fresh air blowing through the pines and filtering into the open windows of my home. I spent the day determined to fully absorb the remaining wonderful hours of a weekend that was passing way too fast.
~K
Fantastic. Football. Friends. Firewood. Food. Fall. Fun.
~K
I forgot my camera. Words will have to do.
We took what we thought was a weird chance tonight with the kids and some good friends.
We took a bizarre chance and drove into the country and went to a little backwoods bbq of sorts. We were certainly hesitant. There was minimal advertisement. Go out of town, look close for a field on the left. You’ll know you’re there when you see the handwritten cardboard sign indicating the impending festivities. It may take a few times going back and forth. It’s a small piece of cardboard.
We weren’t sure and certainly had a “Plan B”… dinner at our favorite Asian restaurant. Candlelit tables and yummy fresh veggies sautéed just right. Sushi rolls and curry pot stickers waiting for us on the other side of town.
I started to wonder as we drove into the cold night searching for our cardboard sign, tired and weary kids in the back, what we were thinking and then my mind wandered to if the wait at our restaurant would be long by the time we turned around and made it back downtown.
And then we got there. And it wasn’t too cold after all. We ate- there were 8 of us and our total was $20.00! Delicious, homemade, country food, different choices at each spot in the lot. We sampled food in the grass while the kids ran around laughing. There was a band playing country music and classic rock under a tent. Our kids took up the entire dance floor, which was grass of course… and the band took notice and switched it up to The Monkees, “I’m a Believer”… not because of the Monkees but because of our kids dancing in the grass in front. “I’m a Believer” is also the Shrek theme song and the kids went wild! Song after song, they’d hand us their bbq and then they breakdanced their little baby booties off under the moonlight while we smiled and watched and sometimes joined in.
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I forgot my camera. I wasn’t anticipating such fun. I was probably too busy thinking about my pot stickers and Plan B.
But while I was thinking and prepping so much for plan B, Plan A turned out to be the best weird chance we’d taken in a while.
I am so grateful for our friends, who love to take these odd chances with us and for family who is willing to just check things out and make fun in bizarre moments. Who’d have thought breakdancing in the moonlight at a bbq festival would have been such fun on a Friday n ight? We all left with full tummies, happy hearts and beautiful memories.
~K
I waited on today’s post, trying to figure out the right words to say. I thought and thought, went back and forth and at the end of the day am going to suffice with a very simple and heartfelt appreciation for all veterans, but with special love to my two grandfathers who are my two special veterans.
Thank you for your commitment, your sacrifice, your bravery and your love. I so very much appreciate you.
~K
I saw this the other day and laughed out loud. I knew it had a spot here. She should be writing this blog! Enjoy “Jessica’s Daily Affirmation.” If it doesn’t become one of the high points of your day I’d be surprised.
~K
Little hands making turkey feathers…. all make for a happy mama today.
~K
My son is sick. He is just little. But he’s going
to be just fine.
That’s the bottom line here today and what I am the most genuinely grateful for. It is all that matters at the end of a day.
He’s had a cold for a couple of weeks. It seemed to be lingering. We have insurance and it’s a minimal co-pay and so on Friday I took him to the doctor, just to be on the safe side. Probably overreacting, I thought.
‘I think it’s just a cold’…. the pediatrician told me. She then proceeded to hand me a paper prescription, ‘just in case it looks like it’s turning into a sinus infection over the weekend. But I really think he’s going to be just fine.’
I left, with a peace of mind, feeling just a tad bit silly at overreacting. I hastily folded the paper script, threw it into the bottom of my purse and went on with my weekend.
The weekend came and went. It seemed she was right and his cold was getting better. His nose wasn’t runny at all anymore! No fever, chills, vomiting…. all very good signs by anyone’s checklist. Lots of coughing though. Lots and lots of coughing. I dug out the paper prescription, filled it and started it just in case. Something still didn’t feel right. I call the on call nurse, available to me 24 hours a day through my pediatrician’s office.
“Coughing is good,” she sweetly tells me over the phone. “Please remember to wash your children’s hands and use lysol around the home. He’ll be fine… it’s just the end of the cold, I believe.”
The nagging in my gut persisted. Today I took him back in, and for a minimal co-pay it was worth me again, surely overreacting, but thankfully, getting one more go to look with the doc.
We waited patiently. She listened to my baby’s chest. I could see a look of, while not panic, certainly concern come over her face.
“Walking pneumonia.” she said matter of factly. “There’s a serious infection in his lungs. He’s going to be just fine and you’ve seen the worst of it. It’s a really good thing you started him on the antibiotic 2 days ago. This is really what has made the difference.”
A good mom, right? I knew something was wrong and now my baby will be safe. Ta-da!
I went to bed comfortable in this thought and the most grateful for the bottom line- my baby could have been far more seriously ill at this point and rather, he will be just fine now.
It’s hardly a ‘good mom’ though. Lots of people would be okay thinking this and taking the credit. But this is where I believe they are so genuinely wrong. The truth of it is that I am a good mom with an exceptional support system.
I wondered as I tossed and turned in the bed… those two ‘overreacting’ doctor visits, which cost me a grand total of $30.00 in co-pays,…. I wonder if I would have had to pay out of pocket what these would have cost, if I would have been as proactive or if I’d have either chosen or forced to choose to take a ‘wait and see’ approach.
A wait and see approach would have my boy in a hospital bed tonight and rather, he’s tucked in sweetly sleeping… healing… dreaming… in his footed car pajamas.
I wonder what ‘choice’ I would have made. My heart knows the answer and it terrifies me.
While I am so beyond grateful tonight that my baby is safe, my heart breaks for the other ‘good moms’ who can’t afford to overreact when their gut instinct tells them that perhaps they should.
We need to think about health care. It shouldn’t be about this. We should all have the ability to take care of all of our babies…. not just the ones in car pajamas whose ‘good moms’ have good insurance.
Food for thought- for today….
~K
