August Images

Jack and Tyler

cousins Alice and Sydney hit the waves

(root) beer at the pier

                                                                     Hanging ten

Cameron and Goose at sunrise

Five cousins out to dinner

Cameron and Clara, cousins

Uncle Mike surrounded by girls...as usual

Alice

birthday

Alice launched by Uncle Matt

Cousins:  Brendan and Jack

Andrew (don't worry, it's gone now)

Cousins Clara and Scarlett

Stella's first night out on the town

Uno in the afternoon

Sisters

Clara and Alice float

Andrew catching dinner

3 children + 550 pieces = 3 hours of quiet

Redfish; caught by Jack

Her first red...caught totally unassisted

one tired Goose

Sweet Cousins

the live well at the pier never fails to fascinate

Bliss!

We are going back to Walt Disney World!

Disney just released some fabulous discounts for 2011, so we are going to, again, be the responsible parents that we've always been (of particular note are the nearly annual visits we get, after about nine days of school absences, from the local truant officer during which Andrew laughs maniacally when the officer tells us that it was parents like us that put our public schools in jeopardy!!) and yank the kidlets out of school and go back in January.  This will likely be our last trip at this super time of year as Jack will be in middle school the following year, and thus truly, unable to miss a week.

We love the January season.  Low crowds, no lines, low humidity, temps in the mid-70s to mid-80s.  And huge discounts.

I snagged a beautiful room at the Polynesian Resort for January 21st through the 30th for 40% off the rack rate!  This type of discount is usually reserved for annual passholders who are also last minute travelers.  The fact that this a general public discount and that it was released in August is almost unbelievable!  Disney is fun, nostalgic, exciting, clean-cut, shiny and happy.  But one thing it is not, is cheap.  You can rarely count on discounts when going to Disney.  All I can figure is that the economic downturn must still be affecting Disney travel.  And I'm happy to take advantage of it.
 
The schools have scheduled a couple half days during this January week and we can usually count on a couple snow delays or cancellations to not make Jack's make-up load too, too bad.  So we're off!

And we just love the Poly.  It's one of the two original resorts that opened with the park in 1971.  It's been luxuriously refurbished many times, but retains its timeless magic.

I love to arrive back on its grounds at night and stroll to our room through the lush, tropical vegetation.  Tiki torches light the paths and charming island music plays.

I love stepping out of the lobby straight onto a monorail.  I love the volcano pool with its zero-entry, waterfall and surprisingly long and exciting waterside contained within the volcano.  I love how smoke rises from the volcano day and night and am always amazed by the glow of the lava that oozes down its sides.  I love sitting in the pool at night and watching the Magic Kingdom's fireworks show from across Bay Lake.

The four parks (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney Studios and the Animal Kingdom) are amazingly magical and vast.  We have been going to WDW annually since 2001 (missed one year due to pregnancy) and we still have not seen and done nearly everything.

One really cool thing about WDW is that it is truly a vacation for anyone and everyone.  We've been with all three children, with just Jack and with just the girls.  We've traveled with other families, with grandparents and with other adult couples.  And each trip has been really neat in its own way.  Whether your focus is toddler Disney, kid Disney or adult Disney, the vacation will be a quality experience.  No matter how many times you go, you'll never do it all.

And now I get to start planning again!  Which is really my favorite part.  I've been lurking on some cool fan websites (Disboards, Intercot, Mouseplanet, and Mousesavers), planning our flights (on Kayak), meals, park schedule, nighttime entertainment, and Cirque du Soleil night.

And this year, I think I'll be sending the truant officer a postcard with Mickey on it, and a promise that after this year, she can go harass other families.

Simple Treasure

Sunrise Solitude

I'm Taking a Break

I am halfway through my vacation and am finally feeling up to writing.  It's been really nice so far.  Lots of sleep, snuggling, swimming, cooking, puzzling, reading.  Lots of just staring at the horizon and wondering how in the hell I got to 39 years of age so quickly.  And plenty of wondering if I've done enough to show for that number. 

Significantly, I am taking a break from the other 11 months.  I am taking a break from:

* my alarm clock

* constant fatigue

* ungrateful patients who make me work for free until 11 AM (which is when I actually start getting paid for what I do)

* difficult airways and back-to-back epidural placements

* surgeons with endless add-ons

* nurses who think room air contains adequate oxygen for desaturating patients or announce loudly that if they were "anesthesia" they'd throw their bodies in front of the OR door rather than let a particular complicated patient be brought to the operating room or think they know better than the rest of us how to handle acute crises.

* 2 AM pages I get because someone else forgot to put the right orders for a patient.

* the feeling I get in my own neighborhood that I, or rather we, live there but don't quite belong. 

* the constant anxiety I feel that I'm not doing enough, in both quantity and quality, at work and at home.

All those moments are in the past and exactly 305 miles away.  Now I am in a time and space of healing and rest.  I'm eating food from the sea and local gardens.  I'll listen to waves crash, sea grass rustle and the constant chatter of my children.  Now I'll inhale the scent of the ocean, salty and fishy and soothing, and just be.

The Elevator Fart

Is there anything funnier than hearing a stranger fart in public?

It can happen in a bank lineup, hotel lobby, or airplane.  It can happen in a restaurant, movie theater, or local bar.  But the funniest of all has got to be the Elevator Fart.  And it happened this morning at the hospital on my way up to the OR.  The Elevator Fart is the king of public farts, for two main reasons:

1. Acoustics.  It’s almost always dead silent in an elevator.  People usually keep quiet, stare firmly at the front door, and wait for their floor.  Any whisper or laugh echoes around the box with full force, reverberating loudly for all to hear.  So a giant, rippling fart trumpeted out by a bald businessman in a suit holding a briefcase in front of him?  That’s like a 21 gun salute.

2. Time.  If you’re climbing a high rise, you’re spending a minute or two with these people.  It’s you and them, locked together.  Hearing a stranger fart on the sidewalk is one thing.   Hearing a stranger fart in a tiny, enclosed room is another.  Nobody can escape the full experience, from the big bang to the first whiff to total elevator saturation.

Hearing a stranger fart in public is great partly because of everybody’s reactions.  There are really four main types of fart reactions you see:

■Concealed Laughers.  These folks purse their lips tightly, pop open their eyes, and try not to laugh.  If they’re with friends then the sight of their friend also trying to hold in their laugh can be too much, and they suddenly explode into a full-blown snort and roar attack. 

■The Business Class.  Folks in suits often try to pretend that nothing happened.  “Nope, everything’s just chipper here, I don’t smell anything at all.”  The only reaction you might see would be a very subtle step away from the culprit and a few extra looks at their watch.

■Deep-Sea Divers.  These folks try to hold their breath as long as possible.  They hear the fart and it’s, “Come on lungs, don’t fail me now.”  They’re the ones with the chipmunk cheeks who eventually pop and gasp desperately for air when the door opens.

■Innocent Children.  Little kids are always the funniest . I once heard a child in an elevator say, “Mommy, that man just farted!" with a full-on finger point right into the well-dressed ass in front of his face.  But hey, I guess if you’re going to fart in a kid’s face, you deserve to be called out.

Yes, hearing a stranger fart in public can be a tiny, hilarious moment in the middle of any day . If you’re the farter, I say be loud and be proud!  We’ve all been there, so no need to be embarassed.  If you’re in the audience, I say enjoy the hilarious social faux-pas and resulting reaction in the room.

So... thank you, unknown businessman, for adding a great bit of comic relief to the beginning of my day.  And thanks to the elevator full of people whose reactions I got to savor. 

Oh, and thanks to my mom and sisters who, along with me, appreciate the inherent funniness of public farts.

I *HEART* Mirena

The thing about the uterus is that it's a very demanding organ.  When’s the last time you thought about your jejunum? That damned thing is eight feet long, but most people have never even heard of it. Or how about your parathyroid glands? You’d be so up a brown creek if something happened to those, you know.  But, the uterus... it craves acknowledgement and respect.  It needs to have you thinking about it all the time.  From age 12 until finally, mercifully, it rests in dormancy.  A mere 40 years later.

Now, it was a lot easier before babies.  We all just went on the pill for, like, decades.  Had short, light "regular Tampax" periods.  Went off, had a baby, then went back on the pill.  Repeated the process until our families were complete.  Then we sent our husbands to the urologist for a little snip, snip and we thought our troubles are over.  But they certainly were not.

Because then the uterus' monthly tantrums start.  Worse than they ever were before.  The curse of women who have had babies and are now in their late 30s and 40s.  The heavy, gastly things that ruin clothes and bedsheets and make you think of nothing but having a hysterectomy for 5 straight days every month.  A "Super Plus" Tampax plus a maxi-pad, extra long, with wings might allow you to get through the night.  As long as you stayed in one position and then rushed to the bathroom the next morning while somehow keeping your thighs clamped together.

After so many years of suffering under her rule, and taking all she had to offer (thanks for the three kidlets!), I started to daydream about sinister ways to shut the bitch up. 

Simply, there are four choices.  And they follow, with my thoughts on each:

1.  Hormonal birth control:  Pills, shots, implantables, patches, vaginal rings.  Been there, done that.  I'm getting too old and I need to worry about estrogen and strokes and heart attacks.

2.  Hysterectomy:  Big deal of an operation.  Could lead to chronic pain states.  Plus, insurance won't pay and I don't have time for it.

3.  Uterine ablation:  Good option.  My only hesitation is the potential inability to detect uterine cancer due to uterine scar "trapping" the tell-tale bleeding.

4.  Mirena IUD:  What I chose.  (official website)


And I LOVE it!  I mean, I am singing from the hilltops.  Best thing since being pregnant!

You have it inserted in the office, which is really not a big deal.  Then it begins emitting a tiny bit of progesterone (no estrogen!) into the uterus.  None gets into your blood stream so you have absolutely no systemic effects from the hormone.  You still ovulate, your endogenous hormones still cycle normally and monthly.  But because the progesterone causes your uterine lining to thin, you barely bleed.  And after 3-6 months, most women stop completely. 

Yes, it's a miracle. And it lasts for five years.  (Then you can have another one placed.) 

It is fairly expensive up front, and, unfortunately, rarely covered by insurance.  (Unless you're on the dole.  Then it's free.)  But I can guarantee that I will pay for mine in a year with savings gained from skipping the "Feminine Hygeine" aisle.

Anesthesia v. Orthopedics

Some genius, somewhere, made this video and put it on YouTube recently.  I first watched it last week, with a bunch of anesthesiologists.  By the end, were all howling!  Wiping tears, rolling on the floor.  It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my life.  Throughout the day, I showed it to more colleagues, orthopedic surgeons, OR nurses.  Everyone, I mean everyone who watched it needed a few minutes to re-compose afterwards.  HIGH-larious to the nth degree. 

So I got home that day and raced into Andrew's study to show him.  He watched and just blinked blankly at the screen.  Looked at me, looked back at the screen, and said "Cool, now let me show you what I've decided to invest our HSA money in this year."

Some things are truly inside jokes.

Whew...

Well it is FINALLY, mercifully, over.  I hope.  (I'll find out in 4-6 weeks.)

The six week cram for my anesthesiology re-certification exam has come to an end.  Which wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the fact that I worked 28 of the last 28 days.  And 8 of the past 28 nights.  90-110 hours per week of doing anesthesia, in addition to the cramming.  And then, as always, trying mightily to give my children and husband the vague impression that they are my true priority. 

I had to put books for pleasure down.  I didn't read a single page.  Didn't watch a stitch of TV or a single movie.  Didn't cook or bake at all.  My herb pots are wilting and the garden is weedy.  No exercise beyond walking to work.  No fun days at the pool.  It's been a summer....

But this is what did happen, mostly in my absence:

*Jack went to basketball camp at Roanoke College and loved it.  9 hours a day.  He built up a whole lot of confidence and is really looking forward to rec ball this year.

*Alice went to Patrick Henry High School's annual soccer camp.  She was not a big fan.  It was huge and the kids were mostly older.  Apparently, there was a coach with one arm and that scared her.  And she was afraid of the high school bathrooms.  I told her that I am, too.

*Both girls went to an art camp for a week.  It was run out of the home of a lovely young couple, both of whom are art teachers in the public school system.  The girls absolutely loved it.  And the coolest thing was that they came home with genuine treasures at the end of the week (that will not end up well hidden in the bottom of the garbage can late at night.) 

*The kidlets all attended vacation bible school.  Which was a good thing because at the rate we've been making it to church, they were in dire need of some spiritual enhancement.

*We finally biked the Virginia Creeper Trail.  Loved it and can't wait to do it again.

*Some friends, whom we met a year and a half ago in Europe, came for a visit.  And it was like not a day had passed.  Guess that's why we liked them so much when we met them.

*I found out that iPhones don't travel well on tops of cars.  And I found out the importance of backing the daggone thing up every now and then and what a pain in the ass it is if you haven't.

*I have not seen my baby nieces in far too long.  They are sitting up and babbling and wouldn't know me from the man in the moon now, which just kills me.  But I will be seeing them soon, thank goodness.

*My dad's stage 4 melanoma is wreaking havoc on him psychologically.  And my mother is suffering tremendously as a result.  And there is not a damned thing I can do to help either of them.

*Swim season.  Now this has definitely been a source of much needed positivity this summer.  Andrew, Jack, Alice and Clara all swam and had a blast.  Alice wound up being given the award for Hunting Hill's top 6-and-under female swimmer.  Andrew got the award for the top point earner in the men's 24-39 year old division.  At age 39 and 3/4 I might add.  Jack got the award for most determined swimmer.  He received a beautiful trophy and the coach spoke at the banquet about how Jack had decided this year that he no longer wanted to be an average swimmer.  So he practiced twice a day and really started to distinguish himself as one of Hunting Hill's top swimmers in his age division.  And Clara, my sweet bundle of charisma, received the Hounddog Award.  Her coach, Jourdan, gave a beautiful, tearful speech about how Clara spreads happiness effortlessly.  The Sherman Family was tenth in top scoring Hunting Hills families.  And again, HHCC won the RVAA championships.  (This is a happy paragraph, so I won't dwell on the fact that I was not present at the banquet.  That I was at the hospital, feeling about as low as I'd ever felt, knowing what I was missing.)


So, it's been a summer of highs and lows.  Overall, I feel anxiety, sadness, pride, fatigue.  I really, really am happy that I have 3 1/2 weeks of Topsail time coming up.  I need it bad.