2 DO....or not 2 DO

Last Thursday I made a list of all the things I wanted to accomplish over the next week....and I should have known better. It was littered with all kinds of "this and that"...jobs that would take hours and I'm not sure why I am so obsessive compulsive with making lists. It actually makes me feel like I have already made headway on my cluttered life. I neatly print out the days and then fill up all of the space in between.....then I doodle a few pictures....write my name in swirly cursive letters....print in Kindergarten perfect print and stuff the entire thing back in my wallet. Never to be retrieved again....poor list.

On Friday night I had 3 perfect homemade pizzas cooking in the oven, John was home and we were sitting in the backyard just LOVING the sound of the kids playing and the breeze blowing when we heard it - the sound of a child who is REALLY hurt. Not the whiney "quit-touching-me" sound.....just pure pain. It was my Jack - holding his arm screaming. Immediately I thought, "Oh, Jack...no big deal...he is NEVER hurt."...It's true. He is 100% bouncy ball rubber and he always feels better with sympathy and the threat of, "Well....I guess you need to go on and take a bath!"............He just SEES those words forming on your lips and he is "Wednesday-night-camp-meetin'-healed!!!!"..........

Not so tonight. There was obvious pain and injury so we headed straight for the......nope.....not the ER....we headed straight to DR. Dan. Remember him??? He's the one who looked at my spider bite last year and asked me if I had "spidey powers".....oh, sweet Dr. Dan. You are such a funny guy.

Dr. Dan came from work with an ARSENOL of supplies and splinted Jack's little bitty arm right there in the living room with instructions to see another doctor in the morning. Friday's "to-do" items were out the window like a moth in the morning.

Saturday - we visited the army Acute Care Clinic. 3 x-rays later they couldn't find anything....oh, fabulous! But, Jack could not extend his arm and he still had significant pain. So, an army medic came to put ANOTHER splint on his arm. (side note: Because I am getting older...young soldiers all appear to be around 10 or 11 years old....this one was no exception....) This splint had a very cute name...and I like saying it....it was a "sugar tong splint". I thought they said, "sugar tongue".....and it cracked me up....I'm easy. Saturday and Sunday were NOT fun with all of the itching and squeezing and other "yucks" that Jack screamed about. I am a horrible mother - I took the splint off and did NOT give Jack pain medication. I said, "If it hurts....don't do it.". THIS is probably the reason I would make a terrible doctor. Well....that and the fact that I'm easily distracted by shiney things - but that's another story....and I like to take photographs and play the piano and practice the guitar - how on earth would I fit "saving lives" into my already jam-packed day?

Monday - I dealt with the dreaded TRI-CARE (military insurance) ALL DAY. Thanks, TRI-CARE....that's 24 hours I will never get back....oooops, did I sound bitter and sullen there?

Tuesday - a visit to Dr. Awesome!! German orthopedic who now has my heart in a cute little package with a bow. He x-rayed and talked to Jack and moved his little arm around and around....and still found no visible reason why Jack cannot extend his arm or why his elbow has swollen to twice it's size....BUT....he had an awesome, professional staff - a giant coffee shrine in the waiting room (I kid you not....I will take pictures of it when we visit again tomorrow!), a sweet row of assistants who, by the way, can spint an arm with so much finesse

(official definition time: FINESSE: extreme delicacy or subtlety in action,
performance, skill, discrimination, taste, etc.)

that it made me swoon. And, the hope in the end that we would find out what on earth is wrong with Jack's arm. MRI on Thursday....another visit to the coffee shrine....I mean Dr. Awesome's office....and hopefully a plan to make my sweet baby's arm better.

Jack...showing me his muscles....a quote from the sweetie himself.

And as I was sitting in Dr. Awesome's office....I drank my coffee and cleaned out my purse and found my "to-do" list that I had scribbled on....and smiled. I can plan and scheme and organize my days all I want but the truth is...sometimes they plan US.

Good-bye "to-do" list....I have a life to take care of....I'll see where I can squeeze you in...

Just keepin' it real....