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The Big Comfy Couch
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Summer’s Touchstone
This photo, taken a few happy weeks ago, is my touchstone for how I will define the summer of 2010. Yet, summer is not cooperating with me. Summer wants me to identify its memory with something more sinister. This was before my husband started crossing the continent on airplanes, and we started just missing each other at home, and at the lake. Our schedules are completely out-of-sync, and in late-night panics, I wonder if there will ever be a time again when our heartbeats occupy the same time in space. This was before the great accident of the summer, which, in the words of my husband, “changed everything.†Since that…
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Pratt’s Crash
While researching and interviewing bike riders for an article I wrote for Columbus Monthly, I discovered cyclists prefer to call their accidents “crashes.” Alex Pratt, procurement director for Pelotonia, crashed, splintered his collarbone and needed “Two Percocets just to feel normal.” So, he swore off cycling for good. Read my article in the August issue of Columbus Monthly to learn how he rememered just how fun the sport is, and the great things he’s doing for Pelotonia.
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No Soggy Greens: Pulverize Them
When I arrived home for my son’s surgery, I spotted an abundant kale bed, fringed with vibrant green New Zealand spinach in my neglected home garden. The sage was overflowing, and the oregano was just at the peak before going to seed. I neglected the garden again for four days – much more important babies inside to take care of and figured the intense heat and lack of rain would take eliminate the leaves for me and I wouldn’t have to deal with them. Yet, everyday that bright kale greeted me, undaunted by the heat. Then, I would say to myself, in my insomnia-stressed state, “I really should be making…
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The Lovely Present
Diamonds, rubies and jewels are tough to come by at the lake, so when my birthday came last week, the boys had few gifts on-hand. One of the boys knew exactly what I wanted, and he slipped quietly out the door, and collected what was available. In the spirit of Charlotte Zolotow’s, Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present, he visited the lake garden and brought me cucumbers, beans, zucchini, peppers, a cherry tomato, some blueberries and some flowers, just for good measure. He handed me the bundle, still covered with dirt, and said, “Happy Birthday,” and took off back to the dock to play. I was very grateful.
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The Bones Came Together Nicely
He’s doing well today. But, each day will be a new day with its own set of challenges. Today, the surgery is behind us. The pain is blocked due to a nerve block, and that is currently on its way to wearing off. He just had his second Vicodin, and I’ve set my alarm for 1:30 a.m. for his next dose. He keeps looking me in the eye and asking, “Is it going to hurt as bad as it did when it first happened?” or “Will I feel the incision?” I tell him I don’t know, then I remind him how we are ahead of the pain now, and how…
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Keeping Ahead of His Pain
We studied Friday’s cat scan of my son’s broken leg, clipped with a clothes pin to our floor lamp, all weekend. The cat scan reveals that the fracture line in the tibia runs straight down and splits the ankle.When the orthopedist delivered the news Friday, on my birthday, I found myself grasping the examining table, as if I was the patient, and I could no longer stand on my own right leg. “This will be a 3-6 month injury,” was the first words out of his mouth. I’m already “over this,” but the first thought that came out of my mind was how perfect my son was when he was…
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Building A Swimming Pool
Hey, little brother. Get out of your bed, grab a shovel and a bathing suit. We’re building a swimming pool today.
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The Lake Summer Training Camp Is Over
The high school boys at the lake are getting pressure from coaches back home to come back for training! Instead, my husband, the Ironman, put them on a rigorous training schedule. Lifting weights, swimming, and a running course that includes 12 times up and down the hills. How perfect that they both had a training buddy to keep them on schedule. My husband left them specific instructions to be followed while he left to go back to work. The boys were pumped. Here’s the team, right after their Sunday morning run, less than 24 hours before the fateful incident. I just feel like diving into some yoga.
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