Monday February 1 2016  A SHORT HELLO

Does anyone believe me when I use the word “short”?  Well, I always have good intentions, but what else can I say.

As I mentioned last week I had an extra appointment go on my Thursday appointment book that I wasn’t expecting.  I think I told you that I found out on Wednesday that I needed to schedule an MRI on my right shoulder.  I received the results back  Sunday morning on “MY CHART” online.  The results stated that I have two tears in my rotator cuff, swelling and fluid in my bursa, and arthritic changes that also exacerbate the injury I had to my shoulder when I hurt my elbow about three months ago.  When I have pain it seems like time doesn’t pass very quickly.  I find pain to be very draining in so many aspects.  I have kept it under wraps the past few weeks trying to take it a bit easier, but never seeming to find time to rest it.  Well, it finally caught up with me.  Pain not only affects the area that is injured, but seems to find ways to radiate into other body parts that are trying to  take up the slack of the injured area.  That is what I am experiencing now.

I do have an appointment with a surgeon next week to discuss what might or might not be done about the tears.  I dread the nights due to the fact it is so painful to lie down.  Please send your prayers my way for healing.

So, enough of that.  On to higher and better topics. At this moment I have no clue what topic, but give me a minute, I’ll come up with something! (I hope.)

Oh, I just thought of something.  Yesterday, my husband received a photo of our 4 year old grandson.  Dave sent the photo on to me with the stream of messages that went along with it.  Xander’s mom instructed him to change clothes so they could leave for a shopping trip.  He came back a few minutes later, decked out to the hilt.  He had outdone himself.  I’m telling you, if he didn’t have style, then I’ve never seen a kid who has it.  He had not forgotten one accessory, jacket, high socks, short pants, shoes, and GLOVES.  Oh, but the clincher was, he was in total concentration mode.  You know how I know?  Because he takes after his grandfather.  When my husband Dave is concentrating he does this “tongue thing”.  The tongue pushes through the lips, goes off to the side and protrudes a bit.  Xander had it down pat!  When I saw the whole package I could hardly stop laughing.  He looked so cute, so innocent, and SO VERY STYLISH!  I asked my husband, “What did Amy do when he came out dressed to the NINES?”  Dave replied, “Took him shopping”.  I am going to include a visual reference to this event, in photo format, so you will not need to leave this to your imagination.  I do hope you enjoy the style.  Perhaps he takes after his grandpa with the tongue thingy, but I think he takes more after his grandma in style.  I love the UNIQUE!

This episode reminded Dave and I of an incident with Xander’s father about 30 years ago when he was about 7 years old.  When Courtland, our son, was 4 years old, he had a little blue suit with pants, vest, and dressy jacket.  He had a little white shirt to wear with it.  Well, I couldn’t bear to get rid of the suit so I kept it in the back of his closet hanging on a hanger.  One evening we were going to dinner at someone’s home.  I asked Courtland to go upstairs and dress in something very nice so he would look handsome.  After quite a lengthy time he came back downstairs, walking rather stiffly.  Somehow he had crammed his 7 year old body into the size 4 white shirt, pants, vest, and jacket.  The pants were quite high-water, barely able to be snapped.  The vest rode up over the little round belly that kids have at that age.  His hands and arms dangled profusely out of the tight, extremely short sleeves.  The jacket was buttoned with one button that made the bottom flare out.  As I type this I am laughing as I look back at that visual memory.  Oh my, what to say when he looked up and in all sincerity, with a somewhat worried smile on his face, “How do I look mom?”  My response was that he looked absolutely amazing and handsome!  I could not burst his bubble.  It took everything I had to not burst out in laughter.  He was definitely proud of himself.  He also looked wide eyes, and acutely uncomfortable.  I went on to say that I wasn’t quite expecting him to wear a suit and asked him if he thought he might be more comfortable in something else.  Oh my, he heaved out a big sigh of relief and told me that yes, he would probably be more comfortable in something else.  I told him to go on upstairs and put something a bit more comfortable on.  He was changed in record time.  He came back downstairs and thanked me for having him change.  He then told me “Oh, that feels better.”  I wonder if he remembers that incident.  I certainly do.  The only reason I didn’t let him wear the suit was because I could tell he was miserable.  Had those pants stayed buttoned much longer he might have passed out from lack of oxygen. 

Since I am on a roll, I have one more little incident tucked in my “mother memory”.  We moved to Northern California from Southern California when Courtland was close to turning 4 years old.  My sister then lived close by.  We both lived in the east bay area near San Francisco.  Courtland was 5 years old.  We planned to go to my sister’s for dinner.  On that particular day I had been shopping and purchased Courtland some new underwear.  The “UNDEROOS” were little briefs that came in a package of eight, each one was a different color.  I gave them to him and he was so excited.  I actually didn’t know someone could get that excited about underwear.  When it was close to time to leave I asked him to go and change clothes so he would look nice for Aunt Velma.  He came back a few moments later.  He had little dark brown cord pants on.  I glanced at him, he looked decent, but I thought, oh my, I’m going to need to buy him some new slacks too because the ones he put on were now so tight on him. 

We arrived at my sister’s place and the kids always got a hug and a love pat on their bottom when Velma hugged them.  Velma patted Courtland’s behind a second time after hugging him.  Then she asked Courtland what he had on under his brown cords.  He excitedly unsnapped his britches, pulled his cords down to his knees, and commenced to showing Velma his new, colorful, UNDEROOS.  I stood there watching as Velma started peeling back layer after lay of elastic waistbands, counting each colorful pair.  All total he had on nine pair of briefs, the ones next to his skin were the boring white ones.  He looked up at her in all innocence and said, he wanted to wear them and couldn’t decide which one to wear, so he put them all on.  When Velma reads this blog I hope she gets a great big chuckle in remembering that evening.  I had Courtland take off eight pair and choose just one pair to keep on.  He came back out at said, “Oh, that feels better”.  And to this day Courtland only enjoys wearing clothes that are comfortable on him.  I wonder why?  And to my knowledge, I think he only wears one pair of underwear at a time.  I’ll have to ask him.

SOMETIMES I WONDER HOW

By Kathleen Martens

February 1, 2016

God made little children

To bring a smile to a mother’s face.

Everyday full of surprises,

At night is when you pace.

No child can be trusted

For a moment out of sight,

To keep them alive and healthy,

Or at least out of a fight.

Especially when they have a brother,

It matters not the age.

The only way to keep them apart

Is to place them in a cage.

Which of course would be illegal,

So referee you must become.

But most times it is easier,

And you actually have some fun.

But of course my kids were perfect.

Because our son had no brother.

He only had an annoying sister

Who was bossy like no other.

But our daughter had a brother

The perfect age to boss around.

And even through the occasional squabbles,

Lots of smiles were found.

So many memories tucked away

From babyhood till now.

I’m just glad I survived them all,

Sometimes, I wonder how.

Footnote to this poem:  I REALLY DID ENJOY BEING A MOTHER TO MY YOUNG CHILDREN AND THROUGHOUT EACH AGE.  AS A MATTER OF FACT, I STILL ENJOY IT, ESPECIALLY NOW THAT THEY HAVE HOMES OF THEIR OWN! 

As far as Dave and I are concerned we believe we have been so blessed by both our son and our daughter.  One of my greatest desires in life was to be a mother, and then to be granted the time on earth to be the one to raise them.  God granted me both desires!  On our son’s 18^th birthday I turned to my husband and said, “Do you know what today means?”  He answered me immediately with, “Yes, it now means you are living on borrowed time.”  Dave knew of my prayer request to God, that I would be allowed to live until both children were grown.  I am ever so grateful that God granted my prayer. I knew there could never be another person in the world that would love my children like I do.  I always wanted to make certain that they were raised to stand straight and tall in the eyes of the Lord.  There is even a bigger story behind that prayer but it will be shared at a later date.

Proverbs 22:6  New King James Version

“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”

FUN FACT:

The roar that we hear when we place a seashell next to our ear is not the ocean, but rather the sound of blood surging through the veins in the ear.

I’m glad I did not know that.  My sister had a conch shell and she would let me hold it up to my ear.  I truly believed I could hear the ocean.  It was like magic to me.  Sometimes it hurts to grow up!

P.S.  Be sure and scroll down far enough to see the photo of our stylish grandson!