The Injury

Thu, 4 Mar 2010 07:58:41 -0500

It is not always easy being the mother of a kid with a high pain tolerance. He doesn’t notice everyday aches and pains, rarely knows when he’s sick until it’s really bad, and, we now know, doesn’t feel much pain when he breaks his collarbone. I mean, really?

But I’ve been a mother for nearly 21 years, and I’ve learned a thing or two in that time. Like, when the kid won’t use his arm for a couple days, maybe there’s a more serious problem than a strained tendon or pulled muscle. I learned that one many years ago, when Aimée was a toddler and dislocated her elbow. I waited a couple days on that one, and the doc on the phone asked, Is she using it? And I had to admit she wasn’t, at all. And I learned that it’s a little harder to pop a dislocated joint back into place after a couple days. (She was fine once it was back in place, but I felt the guilt only a mom can feel.)

But still, a little over a year ago when Daniel was sick I didn’t rush him to the doctor and later--when it turned out to be a ruptured appendix--wished I’d been a bit more proactive. Mom guilt, again.

So when Ben’s shoulder wasn’t any better on Wednesday morning, and I know him to be a kid who’s not going to complain of pain, but he wasn’t using that arm, I brilliantly took him to the doctor. She thought it was a fracture of the clavicle and the x-ray confirmed it. I just love it when my mom intuition turns out to be sound. No mom guilt on this one!

A fractured clavicle turns out to be one of those breaks that they don’t do much of anything for; the pediatrician said the joke is that if the two parts are in the same room, it’ll heal just fine. So we got him a sling for comfort and to remind him and anyone near him that he’s injured. On the way to CVS for a sling he was thinking about all the slings he’s ever seen: “They’re all blue. I don’t want a blue one.” I was delighted to find a black one for him, complete with a cell phone pocket (which he thinks is ridiculous, perhaps because he doesn’t have a cell phone).

We got home from the doctors & CVS around 4:30 and he insisted on going to karate for the 5:30 kids class, where he’s been helping teach. His enthusiasm for karate has not been dampened one whit by this, that’s for sure. No doubt it helps that he’s in so little pain that he can’t even be bothered to take the suggested ibuprofen.

And can I say how much I love our karate school? First, our teacher was really concerned about Ben, and not, I’m confident, just because an injury makes his dojo look bad. And in class last night he was just so great about how Ben can continue to train and learn without further risking the collarbone, telling him how to turn the physical inability into a cognitive advantage and assuring him he will come up with all kinds of things to keep him learning during these six or so weeks of healing. I think that was really encouraging to Ben, and I’m truly grateful. The person I feel most sorry for in this whole thing is James, who was grappling with Ben when it happened: he feels responsible, like he failed, and is too far away to have much part in Ben’s healing over these next couple months.

And one more good thing last night: I was all wound up from the doctor rounds, the trip to radiology, getting him set with the sling, and my self-centered concern that I be doing the right thing for my boy, and spending much of the evening at karate thoroughly absorbed in what I am learning was just the right tonic for my frayed nerves. I love that about karate: whatever has gone on all day just slides away as I sink my brain into practice and learning. Perfect!

Eventful Karate Night

Tue, 2 Mar 2010 16:02:22 -0500

Ben and I are in karate classes every Monday and Wednesday evenings (and Ben also goes to a grappling class on Saturday mornings). Classes are very varied; we rarely have any clear idea of what to expect, beyond some basics. But last night was particularly eventful.

The first event was not actually a surprise. Although with younger students our Sensei keeps belt promotions a surprise, he gives his adult students some warning, so another adult student and I knew we would be getting our orange belt promotions last night. Even though the orange belt, only the third in an eight-belt system, is still a pretty low rank and we’re a long way from black, it’s satisfying to be moving ahead.

The promotions happen at the beginning of class. During our workout I saw that Ben was grappling with Sensei James, a long-time member of our dojo who moved last fall to Virginia with the Coast Guard but who was back in Connecticut for a few days. Ben always loved to grapple with James, and I had a hunch he was showing James some of the skills he’s been learning in the Saturday grappling class. But the next time I looked over--we had finished our warmup workout and were moving into the next part of class--I knew Ben had been hurt.

Ben has a pretty high tolerance for pain. He almost never complains of pain. Because he’s hyperflexible, he’s been warned that he’s likely to be injured before it really hurts, and apparently that’s what happened last night. James felt terrible--Ben couldn’t have been hurt by a nicer guy!--and spent the rest of the night apologizing and expressing his concern to Ben and to me. Sensei explained to us after class that Ben had likely hyperextended his shoulder, and that it would probably feel much better in a day or two, and he also gave Ben some tips on resting it, learning to tap earlier (we tap to tell our partners to stop what they’re doing), and when to get it checked out by a doctor. I really felt grateful that this injury happened in the way it did: he was hurt grappling with someone we both trust and there’s no question of blaming anyone, he was hurt with experienced and concerned adults present who could help sort out what had happened and what to expect going forward, and, of course, that it wasn’t more serious.

This morning Ben’s shoulder did feel a bit better and I’m confident he’ll be fine before long, but it sure did make for an interesting karate night for both of us.

What I’m working on

Tue, 2 Mar 2010 15:40:50 -0500

A few weeks ago I got itchy to do another minibook but had no great ideas for one until I spotted a “favorite books” mini in an online gallery. I also saw a books mini in Ali Edwards’s book Sharing Your Story. Because of my goal of reading 10,000 pages in 2010, I have been reading regularly, and the idea of recording my journey to (and probably, at the rate I’m going, beyond) 10,000 pages sounded fun. It also sounded useful, as I am apt to forget what I’ve read pretty quickly. Rather than simply compile a list, in this minibook I’m compiling a record of my thoughts on each book as well. Photos of book covers are also likely to help my recall of the books as well.

So I have begun. The base of the book is a 5 x 7 inch Maya Road chipboard album, and the inner pages will be made of various cardstocks. I’m also using a lot of tabbed index cards.

Since it’s a work that will be in progress for the entire year, I imagine it will change as I go along, but here are some of the pages I’ve done so far.

The chipboard gray inside covers are bugging me; I will be covering them with paper. Soon.

OK, Then...

Mon, 1 Mar 2010 16:09:54 -0500

I am clearly unable or unwilling to blog regularly. So be it. I won’t attempt a thorough recap of the past couple post-less weeks. But there were a couple highlights.

My best girl came home from college for a few days last week: it was great to see her. She’s happier this semester than last, having switched her major from the very demanding music to the less demanding English. She has, she says, more time to be herself, to do the things she loves and not just the things she must. She spent her short break seeing people she loves, which is just like her.

On Friday of last week Ben and I drove to Boston for a day at the Museum of Science. (Daniel was supposed to come, too, but he had come down with a bad cold and spent the day ensconced on the family room futon watching DVDs.) This trip to Boston had been planned several weeks ago, instigated by the visit of an email/blog/homeschooling friend of mine from Montana. A number of families from the homeschooling email list I’ve been on for--can you believe?--ten years joined us at the museum. We represented six states (four New England states, New York, and Montana) and plenty of kids. For most of us moms it was all about meeting one another in person, matching faces and voices with names and personalities we’d come to know via email. It was grand. I loved being with these moms, seeing their children, hearing their voices.

And while for me I had planned it as mostly about seeing these other women, I had a wonderful time with my boy. He’s a great companion, and when we got lost in Boston on the way to the museum, he proved to be a calm and capable navigator. He loved the museum and wanted to see every single exhibit. He was surprisingly (to me) good at reading the museum map and steering us around. And he was perfectly content to spend some of the time on his own, absorbed in the exhibits, while I saw the butterfly garden and chatted with my friends. On the way home we talked--about the experiences we’d had at the museum, about thinking and learning, about who each of us is. I love this kid, and I love how interesting he is, and I love, love, love being with him. What a great day we had!

Since When Is February Busy?

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 08:40:22 -0500

December is supposed to be busy. May used to be busy. But what’s up with February? Ours has been busy.

We hosted our church’s Super Bowl gathering. The highlight for me--besides the impetus to do a pretty good job cleaning the house--was watching C’eria cheer on her New Orleans Saints to victory. C’eria, born and raised in New Orleans, a Katrina refugee in Connecticut, was the only true fan in our midst; she sat right in front of the TV, and the rest of us, New Englanders with no stake in this game, radiated around her, fed off her happy energy, and enjoyed her joy. She has not had an easy time of it, before or since Katrina, and I loved seeing her happy.

(She was texting folks back home throughout the game: Who dat?)

On Wednesday a decent snowstorm was forecast but fell flat: we only got a few inches of snow. I loved the headline in our local paper and it inspired a page:

Thursday was Ben’s 17th birthday. Seventeen seems really old to me. It also inspired a page:

He asked for karate weapons and a laptop. So his siblings went in together and got him kama:

These are not sharp. On Okinawa the sharp ones are used to cut grass, but we practice (with dull ones) eviscerating our opponents.

And Dave took him to Best Buy to buy him a shiny new laptop.

A few days previous I had purchased an ice cream cake from Cold Stone Creamery. He had Grace Group, his church small group, in the evening, and they had a cake for him. Then his group hosts (and our dear friends) called us up and invited us over to share the cake and play ping pong and Foosball, so we did that. The ice cream cake is still in the freezer (and we brought home the leftover Grace Group cake).

I was really tired; I had spent the whole afternoon babysitting C’eria’s little girl Trinity. She is adorable and not a difficult toddler at all, but still I found it draining. When our friend called at 9 to invite us over, part of me was just, Oh, man, I just want to stay curled up with my book. But Dave was enthusiastic, and I’m glad we went.

So now it’s Friday. I have lunch with a friend today, we have a “sweetheart” dinner to attend Saturday, and on Sunday we’re hosting our church’s interim pastor for Sunday dinner. So--some food shopping and food prep, some cleaning, some school with the boys are all on the docket for the next couple days. I also hope to get back to the good book I set aside last night to celebrate my favorite seventeen year old.

How ‘Bout Some Layouts?

Tue, 2 Feb 2010 15:26:26 -0500

I completed 26 layouts in January, which really sounds like a lot. I have often sat down to scrap and been completely uninspired, but apparently I have still managed to do a lot of pages despite feeling very unproductive.

Anyway, here are a few recent layouts. I’ll start with some with Christmas pictures. (Click Read More to see the images!)

And a few others:

And, finally, one of my very favorites, because the story cracks me up:

The Greek Experience

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:27:26 -0500

This morning I finished reading the Gospel of Matthew in Greek. I am reading at a pace of a chapter a day, with a few chapters broken across two days. According to the schedule I downloaded from Lee Irons’s web site, I’m well ahead of schedule to complete the New Testament in a year. That’s because I don’t always take two days to read the longer chapters, and I haven’t taken any days off yet.

In the past month of reading chunks of Greek every day, my Greek has definitely improved. I’m gradually adding vocabulary without trying too hard. The process is smooth, because I’m using a reader’s Greek New Testament that provides vocabulary glosses for every word that occurs fewer then 50 times in the New Testament. When I come to a word that isn’t included in the notes because it’s a pretty common word but which I don’t yet know, I turn to my Greek-English interlinear Bible. I’m not using a lexicon at all, which really cuts the tedium and means I can move along pretty quickly. I also resort to the interlinear now and then to clarify grammar points; Lee Irons’s syntax notes are sometimes helpful for that as well, though I often forget to look for a note until after I’ve checked the interlinear. Anyway: I’m using the interlinear a little less now than I did on January 1 and have added several words to my working vocabulary as well as absorbed certain grammatical conventions. Whether these will turn out to be peculiar to Matthew remains to be seen.

I do a very rough translation in my head as I read. I’m not stopping much to ponder anything exegetically significant: I’m just reading. So reading in Greek isn’t yielding tremendous spiritual insights. But what it does do very effectively is slow me down so I notice more what’s being said. As an example, I can usually read accounts in the Gospels of Jesus’ death without much emotion at all. I feel a little guilty about that: shouldn’t it affect me every time I read it? Reading it in Greek I have to notice very word. I read Matthew 26 and 27 this week with tears in my eyes, seeing afresh what Christ endured for me. This is totally worth the effort.

So next up on Lee Irons’s schedule is Mark. I’m pondering this. Typically on a read-through-the-Bible plan I dislike reading the Gospels all in row. But I wonder if the likely similarities in vocabulary would make it better for my Greek to stay in the Gospels for an extended period of time rather than skip to an epistle and then jump back to Mark. I will probably move on to Mark and reserve the right to skip Luke after that if I feel over-Gospeled down the road.

So: it’s still fun. I’m learning. It doesn’t feel like work. I feel only a tiny bit guilty that I’m not working harder at it: guilty because if I made myself use a lexicon and work harder at translating before turning to the interlinear, I would be learning more, but only a tiny bit because I know I can’t maintain that level of scholarly attention for long enough to sustain me through the entire New Testament in a year. I’d rather read and enjoy and learn more slowly than make it a chore that I won’t keep up faithfully.