Parent's Night

Inevitably, there will be a ton of posts commemorating 9/11. For me, it's always a celebration because my older daughter was supposed to be on a plane flying into New York City from Florida that day. You see, it's her birthday. And for her, it's forever a bittersweet day now. Today she's 36. And every year I'm grateful that she's a year older. Happy Birthday, J! Many, many more.

Two nights in a row at "Parent's Night" at school was probably two nights too many. Wednesday night we climbed stairs, visited every classroom and talked to every teacher for T at the middle school. In our case, it was also an opportunity to touch base about the temporary needs T would have until her arm heals. I was impressed with the creativity expressed by teachers who were willing to come up with solutions so T wouldn't get too far behind.

Even the gym teacher had some "exercise" ideas for T. And she offered to speak to a friend who is a physical therapist about some safe exercises for her fingers so T doesn't lose too much mobility.

Then last night we visited the elementary school and sat with a bunch of kindergarten parents while the teachers explained what "our" kindergarteners were doing. Facial expressions told the story--it was obvious which parents were first timers and which had been here before.

By the time we got home, my daughter and I were very tired and there were chores to be done. The main one was the evening wound care and cleaning. For those who have weak stomachs, just skip to the bottom of the post!
This is a close of up the damage. Under those steri-strips are a hundred and fifty stitches. The surgeon did such a superb job that if all goes well, she'll only have a hair-line scar on that section.
Now the wrist on the other hand... well, we're ecstatic that she didn't have any permanent loss of feeling and mobility and if a scar is the price, then we're real happy. Below and above the stitch line are deep scrapes that curiously hurt more than all the stitches. Isn't that the way it usually goes? The wrist section accounted for another twenty-five stitches.

Tomorrow, she goes back to school. And boy, is she excited. Thank you to all the authors who've offered prayers, money, and good wishes. We all appreciate it more than you can know. I'm so looking forward to thanking many of you personally at RomantiCon in a few weeks! Romance writers are the best!

And tomorrow, I promise to post about something other than my family!

anny