It's story time again. It's been a while, right? Well, as they say, Crazy always Outs. Ok, it may be the Voices that say that, I'm pretty sure I've heard it said on the Outside of my head too.
Let me preface this story with a link. Brave Girls Club, Signs Story Go on, click and read. It's a lovely story. I had this story in my mind at the time of The Diet Coke Incident. In summary, it's the idea that everyone's got something going on that they're dealing with. If we wore signs around our necks maybe everyone would be more kind to each other. My sign would say "my little boy is sick and the doctors can't seem to make him better." I would smile as others saw my sign and gave me smiles of encouragement and I walk calmly through this life. Ok, that's absolutely imaginary as I don't think I've ever walked calmly through life and if I did it would probably alter the general consciousness and I'd cause a black hole to suck us right on out to where ever you get sucked to when you enter a black hole...
OK back to the story. We're all happy feely now, right? Wearing our signs? Being patient with one another? Good.
The Diet Coke Incident...
My kiddo has CF (cystic fibrosis), which is a lung & digestive disease. He's almost 12 yrs old and has been pretty healthy for the last couple of years. Joe's digestive tract just decided to stop working about 2 months ago. We'd been in and out of Children's Mercy clinics, Emergency Room, even admitted for a weekend and then sent home, each time the telling us he's just fine and then the damn thing would start over. In a nutshell, he's been in pain and barfing for 2 months. He was pretty small to begin with but he'd reached a critical level. I'd not slept the night through for almost 2 months, he'd be up dry heaving or barfing from 2-4:30am every stinking night. The poor kid.
This put me in full zombie mode. The GI team FINALLY figured out what was causing this (but not how to fix it) and we were just waiting for a room to open up at Children's Mercy hospital. It was a Wednesday around 11am. I was on my way to the CVS pharmacy to pick up yet more meds and pulled into the Quick Trip in my neighborhood for a diet coke. I was thinking about the story of what my sign would say and how I should really try to go out of my way to be kind to others as no one really knows what's going on with another person's life.
I was pouring myself a diet coke in the Quick Trip and somehow the 32 oz cup just slipped out of my hand and dropped to the ground causing a HUGE splash of diet coke everywhere. I stood there just watching it for a moment until it registered in my mind. I think I actually said "wow." (It was a really big splash) I hear laughter and a snarky voice saying "This must be one of those Johnson County alcoholic moms we're always hearing about." I turned around, saw these two cutsie 20-yr olds laughing away snarkily. I Snapped, with a capital S. I turned and got RIGHT-IN-HER-FACE with my finger poking RIGHT at the tip of her nose and yelled "HEY! YEAH, I DROPPED THE FUXXING CUP OF FUXXING DIET COKE. YOU KNOW WHY? MY LITTLE KID IF FUXXING SICK AND THE FUXXING DOCTORS CAN'T MAKE HIM FUXXING BETTER! WHAT'S SO FUXXING FUNNY ABOUT THAT?" There was a lot more, but it's honestly a blur of f-bombs yelled at the top of my lungs (and I'm really REALLY loud when I mean to be) and severe finger poking. I'm pretty sure she about burst into tears and I do remember feeling really good about that. Then I calmly walked over, pulled another 32 oz styrofoam cup off the wall and filled myself another diet coke. There was COMPLETE SILENCE in that shop. There were a TON of people, which all quietly moved away, much like the Biblical parting of the seas, when I walked to the counter to pay.
I walked calmly to my car and looked at myself in the mirror. I have to admit, if I'd not known my own story I may have thought I was an alcoholic gutter dweller. The bags under my eyes, crazy freaked out hair, mascara that had run down into the cracks and crags of my face did not present a normal Johnson County mother-type figure. I also realized that the standard "come back soon" wasn't spoken to me when I left the shop either. ha! I also realized I'd not thought about her sign, that she might've been having a hard time in life, but also decided I really didn't give a flying fuxx. Ah well. I'm not exceedingly patient on little sleep and excessive stress.
Joe's been in the hospital almost 2 weeks now. They seem to have got his system working again, but it's very slow. He's been on a feeding tube (which sucks) but it's built his strength and weight back up to levels before this stuff started. My son's feeling better and has started a new business while stuck in his bed. He's beginning "Joe Co." (his name is Joe) and is creating really cute animal magnets and pins. My dear knitting friends WHO ROCK decided his little business venture needed investors and started him off with a significant gift card to Michael's craft shop for supplies. I'll be sharing photos of his critters soon. They're pretty darn adorable. Sheep, octopi (? octopusses) ladybugs, pandas, frogs and dogs. YAY! SHEEP! YAY! OCTOPI!
I've been knitting my arse off and am getting ready for the Creative Hand Show in a couple of weeks. I'm also crocheting away on tons and tons of little flowers to felt up and attach to barrettes and pinbacks. crafty crafty and I've not poked anyone for at least a week. :) YAY ME!
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