Totem Pole perspective

Now for a story. When I was in my teen years, I worked at a medical clinic. It was my job to check patients in, get their blood pressure, and ask them how they were at the time of visit.

I called a patient that was in the lobby. She carefully left her seat. She had a limp. She excused herself for being slow.

"I'll get there, it just might take a little time".

I brought her in a room, and picked up her 50 something year old arm to get her heart rate. I looked at her hand. Her large, mangled fingers looked like a curly willow branch. The knots that had once been joints, were swelled to the size of a shooter marble. Some of her fingers were frozen. She wore a large plastic ring on her wedding finger. She was all aglow with smiles. When making small talk, she kept referring to "George". Clearly she loved him, as a special smile graced her face when she said his name.

I asked how she was feeling today. Most times when I asked this, I had people start to cry, or they'd say they were in pain, or didn't want to talk about it. She said she was doing great. I asked what her pain level was (This a a scale from 1-10. 0 being no pain, 10 being the worst pain you've ever had). She said it was a 7. Then she said something great:

"There's always someone lower on the totem pole".

What!?

I asked her what that meant. She told me that each segment of a totem pole, is like a person. There is always someone a little higher than you. There is always somebody a little lower than you. She told me she may have arthritis, but she is alive. She said she was blessed to be in her situation. That she was thankful to be happy (again mentioning George), thankful that she does not have a life-threatening illness, thankful that she can walk and drive herself places. She said "There is too much to be thankful for if anyone just sat down and thought about it".

She explained that things happen that seem bad, but you DECIDE to make them better. Kind of like "When life throws you lemons, make lemonade". She showed me her ring. She said this is the most beautiful ring in the world. I disagreed. It was plastic play jewelry. She said her arthritis had flared and her wedding ring had to be taken off. Her finger continued to swell, and she was never able to put it back on. She was unhappy about it. She and George went to the grocery store one evening. On the way out, there was a machine that had plastic rings for 25 cents. George told her to wait in front of the store. He came out with a ring and put it on her finger. He laughed and said "Here is a new ring for you!' She wore it as long as a knew her.

I must tell you the type of arthritis she had is an auto-immune disorder. People that have it as advanced as she, have a shorter life span. The last couple years they are alive, they are flat on their backs in horrid pain. They often die of infections. And she knew it! Yet...she considered her circumstance blessed.

I have never let this pearl of wisdom leave me. This concludes the story.

Maybe the conclusion of this story is....
"...And they all DECIDED to live happily ever after. The end."

Thank you Diane.

Having fun outside

Snow???

Three weeks ago it was sunny and about 68 degrees. The flowers were blooming, the bees were back. Then we had snow! You can see the camelia blooming in the picture of the back yard.

Train building during family time

Ryan, Luke and Daphne enjoy building together in the evenings. The children get their jammies on and have quiet time with Daddy. This train track they were all very happy with.

accidental gardening

A special necklace

Chloe and Lilly made a necklace for Daphne's birthday. She adores it! It is worn every day. We have to talk her into taking it off for bedtime.

Helping hands

Luke has taken to doing hardy yard work these days. He watches Ryan and loves to do hard labor. The grass in the yard is mostly crabgrass. The turf is full of mole or gopher tunnels. Very uneven. I have difficulty pushing this! I was impressed to see Luke mowing away.

Blasting imaginary bad guys

I will protect you Mommy! Do not be afraid!

Daphne's 2nd Birthday and Daphne facts

So little one is now 2. We enjoyed a small birthday party. She received clothes and a play kitchen. The kitchen was a hit for her and brother. I like that they enjoy each others toys.

She received 2 frilly skirts. I am a little nervous to go out in public with the second one! There might be a mob of people to comment on it!

She has become her own little person. She is a very physical child. She loves to run, jump, wrestle, throw balls and pounce. She likes to cuddle and enjoys caring for things. Daphne loves her Daddy! She enjoys playing with cars, trains, dirt, rocks, light sabers, and her brothers play rifle. Her favorite toy is her kitty. She likes the outdoors, even if it is cold, she doesn't mind. She also loves shoes. Her shoes, her brothers shoes, her Daddy's, every body's shoes.

Daphne enjoys her friends. She and her brother really like "Get me" and "Super Hero's". "Get me" is pretty self explanatory. "Super Hero's" is running around with capes and doing good things, and occasionally stopping the bad guys (those are always imaginary). We have the Carlson children over often, and she loves playing with them. There are hugs for Erika every week. And she squeals "Efan! Efan!" when she sees Ethan come in sight. The Hollenbeck children visit too. Daphne enjoys having a big sister type to help her and enjoys playing "Girly" things with Kyla.

She has an opinion on her clothes. Beyond loving the color pink (I don't like pink myself), she just likes things a certain way. This is odd to me. I don't really love it. Luke did not like tags sticking out or a rough material. She wants a certain kind of outfit. In fact, there was a sweater she just would not wear. I was sad because it was made of alpaca and was warm. I made her wear it about 10 times or so, because I thought she was ridiculous.

She is a singer. We taught her the ABC's and Twinkle, Twinkle little star. She started mixing them up. Then we taught her Baa, Baa, black sheep. It is pretty funny to hear: "A, B, C, D, wittle staaaaaw. Ow I under utt you aaaaaaw. Ut above the world so high, H, I, J ,K, M, M, N, O, P. Yes, sir, yes, sir, EEEEE bags fuuuuuw. Winkle, Winkle, wittle staaaaaw, Ow I under utt you aaaaw."

Autie Elisha made up a new song. It is to the tune of Only You. You add in the child's name. So the song goes "Daphne, Roooooose. You are my Daphne, Rose" and so on. When you ask her name, she says "Da'ne Wose". She also sings the same tune to "Lukey, booooy, You are my Lukey, boy." She now calls her brother Lukey boy.