Wednesday, January 30, 2013

A LEXIE STORY

We are heading out to Austin in a little while (well, we were, but got sidetracked by a little trip to the ER -- more about that later), to hang out at Book People and Anthropologie, then to meet our son for lunch so we can hand over some mail of his that came to our place. I told my husband that, as much as I love it when the whole gang gets together, I really look forward to spending some one-on-one time with each of the kids as well, because that's the only time they really have a chance to open up and tell you what's going on in their lives. It got me to thinkin' about another time, about 25 years ago, when I went to a lot of effort to give them each my undivided attention.


When the kids were about two and four and a half, something wonderful happened. Originally, they both went to a Mothers' Day Out program at our own church -- a somewhat laid-back Disciples of Christ church that didn't get all uptight about Santa and the Easter Bunny -- on Tuesdays and Thursdays. By the time Alexis was ready for pre-school over at the Lutheran church, on Mondays and Wednesdays, most all of my neighborhood buddies had their kids going to MDO down at the huge First Baptist church, which was Fridays only. My friends fell into the habit of meeting up for lunch every Friday, after they'd finished running their errands, and it morphed into something known as the Friday Lunch Bunch. They kept urging me to join them, but I just didn't feel right abandoning my own church's program for theirs, when we all loved it so much. I couldn't -- I was on the Board!

One day I had a brainstorm. I figured out that if Austin went to MDO at our church on Tuesdays only, that could be my day for some special one-on-one time with Lex. I always let her choose where we had lunch on those days, and she always chose a chicken leg with mac & cheese at Luby's. Then, while she was at pre-school for a half day on Mondays and Wednesdays, I got to spend some one-on-one time with little Austinootie, and let him make some choices -- something that was nigh on impossible when his big sister was around. On Fridays they both started spending the mornings down at First Baptist with all their neighborhood buddies, and momma finally got a wee bit of time on her own, to do some sewing and cleaning or whatever, and to have some adult conversation over lunch. Momma was very happy!

A few weeks later, when a well-refreshed momma joined the hordes of others clogging the halls of the church, as they all tried to fetch their various kiddos right at the same time, she made the huge mistake of asking little Lexie what she thought of her new class there at the Baptist church so far. Our little drama queen froze in her tracks with hands on hips and a rather disgruntled look on her face, then threw both arms up into the air, and bellowed "Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!', pumping her little hands to emphasize each word. "Don't they ever talk about anything else in this place?"


Now there's a girl who knows how to stop traffic!

P.S. As for why I started this post at seven am, but didn't get it posted until seven pm, well, I was just finishing up when my hubby yelled "Shit!" from the other room. I ran in to see what was wrong, and he told me he just didn't feel right. He kept having spells where he felt flushes surging through his body, making him feel like he might pass out. Fearing another brain bleed, I called the EMT's, and they took him to Austin. His CAT scan came back clear, but his heart monitor caught a very clear episode of arrhythmia called V-Tach, or something like that, which could be responsible for these episodes of dizziness. Considering what we were expecting, that was a huge relief to us. They decided to keep him overnight for observation, with a heart monitor on, and ordered an echocardiogram. The cardiologist came by just before supper and informed him that he was getting a pacemaker the next day. He's probably never seen anyone break into a jig upon hearing that news before. 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sorry about your husband's cardiac event. Last year my husband had a cardiac arrest and thanks to my alert son we were both able to do CPR until the EMTs arrived (thankfully they were quick). They put him on a "cooling" regimen in the ICU and did not expect him to make it, but 5 days later he came out of it and received an ICD ( pacemaker/defibrillator). Now he sees his cardiologist along with an electrophysiologist for the AFIB. The biggest threat with AFIB is stroke, so they have him on Xaralto. He is doing well by closely watching his diet, exercising regularly, taking his meds, and regularly visiting his various docs. I wish the best of luck and outcome for your husband.