Stubborn Mule

This wonderful man is Calvin Edward Reel. It's Eric's dad. On Monday evening he was in a four-wheeler accident. I received a phone call at one in the morning saying what had happened and even at that it was all very sketchy. A lot of questions were left unanswered. At 4am I received another phone call that they had done a CAT scan on him and it didn't look so good: broken shoulder, collar bone, multiple puncture wounds on the upper right hand side of his back and the whole right side of his face was pretty much smashed. The only question I could get out was if he was coherent or responsive. I needed to know that he was still "in there". They told me that he'd squeeze your hand if you were talking to him. By this point they were waiting for the orders for him to be life flighted to Kootenia Medical Center in Coeur d'Alene. Through out the day we had small updates here and there, but nothing to say much of anything. He underwent surgery Tuesday night and that's when I found out what all had happened.

(Calvin with all is son's, except for the lil lil guy)
Cal decided it would be fun to ride off on his four-wheeler by himself. Eric's baby brother, Justin and Eric's nephew Dagen were fishing in the creek when they heard a loud commotion. They turned to see what it was and saw that it was dad's/grandpa's four-wheeler that had flipped. Unfortunately it was those two that had found him. No one knows what had caused him to flip, a pot hole, soft edge, we may never know if Cal can't remember. Dagen and Eric's oldest brother Christian had to carry Dad out and he was then taken to Orofino Hospital.
The injuries that he sustained were pretty much all upper body, face, neck and shoulders.
The surgery revealed that he had to have two metal plates placed under both of his eyes, a metal mesh plate placed behind the right eye to keep it in place, they had to wire his jaw shut and they had to do a tracheotomy because his nasal cavity was smashed and he wouldn't be able to breath. Thus they put in a feeding tube as well. The doctor's fixed and set his shoulder and collar bone. The multiple puncture wounds on his upper back were from the collar bone breaking and stabbing him through the skin 3 or 4 times as he rolled.
(Cal and all the kids and the grandkids)
Yesterday, the doctors made him wake up to try to breath on his own. In that man's stubbornness, he tried ripping all of his tubes out. That's the ornery man that I know.
His eyes are swollen shut, his mouth wired shut... he has no form of communication to any of us other then squeezing hands that are holding his. I am being told that he hears you, and that's all. I haven't seen him yet. Honestly, I'm scared to. I will be leaving work early tomorrow and staying the night up there. I can't imagine how Eric is doing with all of this. The plant that he's working on, the supervisor went on vacations which left him in charge. He felt obligated to stay, only going on the fact that dad's injuries weren't life threatening and it's only the waiting game. Eric is leaving work tomorrow from Yakima and heading straight up.
The bleeding in Cal's brain has stopped and their is a lot of bruising, but they are promising no permanent damage. Their main concern right now is his eye sight. He could end up with double vision, deeming him "disabled". The reason I call him a stubborn mule is because on Tuesday, Eric's older sister, Stacey, called up to his room and actually got to talk to Dad. She had asked him if she needed to come up there to say good bye to him. He just laughed, and if you know Cal, you know what laugh it is, and he said he didn't know what everyone was worried about. When Stace relayed that information, I knew the good Lord wasn't done with this man yet... THANKFULLY. He is truly one of the better men in my life. Many prayers are needed.

11 years and going strong

Today marks 11 years for Eric and I. Looking back on our journey,( I say this because it hasn't been all rainbows and cupcakes), I realize how far we have come. If you can imagine a marriage rockier then the Rocky Mountains and stormier then the Gulf in hurricane season, that was us in our first five years. Any possible means of destruction to a marriage, it was done. Not just by one party but both. These last 6 years we have been cleaning up our path of destruction we created. I feel that our marriage is now stronger then it ever has been and I honestly believe it's because I have let the Lord back into my life. I see things with a different light and only want to make things better. Though our marriage is far from perfect, we don't waste our means on material things. We realize what we wasted for 5 years, and what matters is our time to and with each other.
Trying to recall all our anniversaries, I think we've only exchanged cards and had a dinner to ourselves here and there. Nothing big. (On our 8th, we spent OUR day at Eric's little brother's wedding where Eric was a groomsmen. Yes, that's right, his little brother got married on the same day as us. Talk about me being pissy.. salt in an open wound........) I wanted to renew our vows last year being our 10 year mark, and I wanted to do it under the eyes of the Lord, since we were 17, signed off by both of our parents in the court house by a justice of the peace. But Eric was laid off at the beginning of that July, and so yet another test of our marriage was set upon us. I can proudly say that today marks another mile stone and that test has come and is now gone. I just wish he was here with me so I could appreciate US all that much more. Happy anniversary, Babe. I love you.

My sister....

... turns 30 today. Where do I begin with her.... She is my only biological sister out of all of us girls. We aren't quite 2 years apart. Growing up we were the poster children of sibling rivalry. We NEVER got along. I remember when I was younger, thinking that I was going to go to school clear across the county to get away from her. And just maybe, if she was lucky, I'd send her a Christmas card. We were actually separated when I was 13. She had to go live with my biological father because of her "unruly" behavior. She grew up in and out of hospitals due to her bad asthma, so I was always stuck doing her chores because she would conveniently have an "asthma attack." Things changed drastically when I found out I was pregnant with Tarren. She moved her and her now husband up here to Lewiston to be closer to me. We have since then developed a unbreakable bond. We don't go a day without calling each other and knowing what's going on. Her kids are mine, and mine are hers. We have a lot of the same beliefs. so raising the kids isn't a chore for either one of us (though 5 kids are hard to handle at any given moment). This morning when I called her to tell her Happy Birthday and remind her that she was 30, she sweetly reminded me that I'm not so far behind her.

I should also throw out there that she shares her birthday with our biological dad. He is turning a whopping 54. She has our dad's and grandfather's name sake; my grandfather Johnny George, my dad Johnny Michael, and my sister Jonnie (pronounced Johnny) Katherine.

So here's to you Jonnie. Of all those times we tried to kick the poo out of each other, I'm glad we didn't end up killing one another. Hope you have a great birthday! I love you.

Coping.......

Since the older two are gone to church camp in Orofino for Faith Tabernacle, I've been trying to occupy Caiti. Monday night was quite nice. We gave the dog a good bath and then we settled down to watch a movie. By 7pm, Caiti fell asleep and I found myself waking up around 8:30pm on the couch. I took advantage of the whole situation and packed her up and we went to bed. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with her last night until I heard on the radio that the Aquatic Center was having family night from 6 to 8 and it only cost $10.

So I called up my nieces and asked if they wanted to join me. My oldest niece brought my great-nephew who is one, and we had a great time. So for $10 we got 7 people in, not bad I say.

I took Caitrin with the intentions of her passing out early. I figured that all that running around and swimming would tire her out. Not so much. We ended up staying up until 11pm. It must have been the all the sleep that she got the night before.

Happy Birthday Trent

Today is Trent's 8th birthday. This morning he woke all excited to leave for camp in Orofino today. But when we got to the bus, the mood changed. He had tears pooling up and his eyes were red. He asked me to say a little prayer with him to help him be brave and strong. I sat and waited for the buses to pull out and leave to let my own tears fall. He has never been this long without me, so it was kind of hard on mama as well. I felt bad because I called Eric bawling. He just laughed and told me to enjoy the craziness that the little one is going to give me. I promised Trent that when he got back on Friday, we'd have a Transformer birthday party for him. I just hope and pray that he'll have a good time. Poor kids, I miss them already.

Conversations

Setting: We were in the car listening to the radio. The song Life is a Highway, by Tom Cochrane came on. At this particular time, I didn't know that it was Tom Cochrane who sang it.
I saw Trent staring at the radio in disgust.

Mom: Hey, what's your problem?
Trent: They're singing this song wrong.

It took me a minute to understand what he was talking about. He has grown up with the Disney movie CARS, in which Rascal Flats (sp?) sings the song, so it didn't sound quite right, to him.

Mom: Oh. Umm... This is the original song. The first time the song came out. Long before you were born. Rascal Flats re sang it so they could play it for the movie.
Trent: They still aren't singing it right. Who is it?
Mom: You know, bud, I'm not sure. But I can find out later today.
Trent: It's probably a bunch of senior psychopaths.
Mom: Senior psychopaths, huh?
Trent: Yea, a bunch of old people.

I just shook my head...

Growth Spurt

With school being out for the kids, Trent has spent a lot of time at my sister's place. My nephew, Jackson, and Trent are joined at the hip most of the time. They get along really well. ( More then I can say for the other 3). Friday night I had told Trent that he had to come home. I hadn't seen him in a few day and I wanted to spend time with him. He wouldn't have it. When I told him it wasn't an option, that didn't go over well either. Needless to say that when we were at home, he did everything in his power to give me MAJOR attitude. By 6 o'clock, I was done with it. I sent him off to his room. It is very like my son to challenge me. By that I mean, he'll come to the top of the stairs and sit and make noises, he'll come up from his room saying that he has to go to the bathroom or needs something to eat or drink, anything to see if I'd forget that I sent him to his room.
The girls and I were just veg-ing on the couch. Around 7:30 it hit me that Trent had not challenged me, or gave me any more attitude. I went down the stairs to check on him, make sure he didn't make an escape out the window to his friend's house ( I wouldn't put it past him). When I entered his room, he was snuggled under is covers. "Well....??" I thought. I just chalked it to him not getting enough sleep at my sister's house.
The next morning, I woke early to read my book (I'm reading the Twilight Series.. again). 8 o'clock Trent came wondering up the stairs after a good 12 hours plus of sleep. As he reached the top, he stretched. While I was watching him, I made a mental note that I thought he looked taller. No big deal, all my kids have legs.
He did his morning routine of going to the bathroom and when he came out, he just stood in the hallway staring at his feet, or it could have been the floor. I'm not sure. He looked at me kind of confused.
"What?" I asked.
"Mom, I feel taller" he said puzzled.
" Okay, come here." I guided him to the hall way where we measure the kids on a regular basis. I had noticed that Eric just measured all the kids on May 9th.
I backed him up to the wall and was blown away. He has grown a full inch since May 9th.
There goes the pair of pants I just bought him before school got out. I guess I should have noticed something was up when he started to eat me out of house and home. I have a sneaking suspicion that he's going to be taller then his dad. What's a mother to do...?