I have so much to say, and such little time to say it! Literally, I have half an hour before I need to start the tofu!
Here goes…
Last week I meant to blog, but instead, I took my daughter to the health clinic to have her hands cleaned and x-rayed. I’m sure she will tell all about it in her own blog, and I don’t want to steal her thunder, so let’s just say: horses who don’t enjoy loading into trailers + ropes held by 13 year-old gloveless girls do not mix.
She ended up having patches of skin filleted from her hands. It’s probably one of the most painful, most difficult spots to treat, right there in the pit between her thumb & forefinger.
Though she’s healing nicely, there are many things she can’t do: brush her hair, cook, make popcorn (on the stove), text her friends, play piano, and do her math.
Should I be suspicious of that last item?
In all fairness to my incredible daughter, most of her schoolwork is on the computer, but math requires pencil-wielding, which is kind of painful at this point.
And so, my lesson this week is that of patience. She gets frustrated because she can’t do all the things she loves to do (including working with horses & going to the beach, should we get another hot day for it), and I get frustrated because, to be perfectly honest, I’m not used to this kind of workload.
Though I’m often helping to braid hair around this place, it’s been years since I ran a bath for a kid. And the cleaning & treating of my poor daughter’s wounds is time consuming. It’s not her fault (so don’t be upset when reading this, Katie!), and I am not in any way resentful, but because I’m typically such an unorganized person, I am really forced to plan my days better, which is really stretching my abilities.
The best part of this accident (if there is a good side to it) is that my daughter and I are spending a lot of time together; and together, we are learning patience and grace, even during difficult situations.
So that’s what I’ve been doing. I have also done things like running (yes, my foot is totally better–hooray) and I did something weird called ‘biking,’ which is fodder for another blog.
As for the running, I’m still keeping in shape. I decided to shorten my long run today, and when I got home I had a funny conversation with Libby (my 8 year-old)
“How far did you run today?” she asked.
“16 miles,” I replied.
“You call that short?!”
I had to think about it…yeah, I do.
It is truly amazing what happens when you begin to run longer distances. It happens so gradually that you’re barely aware of it–kind of like how your kids grow taller, but you don’t often ‘see’ it, until they wake up one morning and you have to reach UP to hug them, and you think, “When did THAT happen?”
That’s how I felt about my ‘short’ run today.
And so, the church bell just tolled 3 times, meaning it’s a quarter till five, and I have to go fry up my tofu.
I am sure Katie will be blogging about her recent experience with the horses, and if you want to check out her blog, you can go to aufgehtsdaughter.com
Now it’s tofu-time, and I also feel the need to go hug my kids–even the ones who are taller than me.
Auf Gehts, Mama! 