Potholes

I live in a normal little suburban town. Well, I know it is normal but the elected “powers that be” insist on calling us a “premiere community”. I am not sure who ever designated my fine community as such and maybe sometime long ago it was “premiere”. Today it is an over taxed, shrinking community hit hard by the recession. Lots of empty store fronts, (although they have brought in several cash for gold stores and we have dollar stores in every center) school enrollment down, many empty houses and potholes the size of small cities.

potholeThe potholes make driving around town something of an adventure. A little swerve to the left, a slight veer to the right while making sure not to cross the middle line or drive into on coming traffic. I feel like I am preparing for the extreme games just heading to the drug store. The biggest problem is that I am not talking about 1 or 2 roads, it is everywhere. Patches put over patches have become big problems. This is top of mind for me right now since the county just went through the process of reassessing all homes. We will be seeing a significant increase in property taxes. There is no way we could ever sell the house for the amount we are being told it is worth but they don’t care. Now, if this was the first increase we were seeing in a while maybe I could accept it but we have seen increases year after year.-614549e91b17a15c

But I digress. Since nothing is going to change, please keep all hands inside the ride while it is moving. Strap in tight, it is going to be a bumpy ride!

Here we go again

Tomorrow I once again get to enjoy the wonders of modern technology in the form of a pelvic ultrasound.  This will be the third one in a period of about 5 months.  I am not worried about what they find because I expect that they will be about the same.  I expect the cysts will still be there, meaning we will need to talk about what comes next.  The polyp will still be there since that does not rectify itself.  An endometrial ablation was recommended but I decided to just wait until we got the results of this ultrasound before even continuing to discuss dealing with the polyp.

To say that the ultrasound is invasive is an understatement.  I am growing weary of them and would love to hear that the cysts have disappeared and all is well with the world.  Right after I expect to see pink unicorns and hear happy music playing in the background while money falls from the sky.  So in my mind the odds of the second statement occurring is just as likely as the first so I am not optimistic, although unicorns and falling cash would be very cool!

Until tomorrow I guess….

Determination and Pride

Tomorrow Megan’s soccer team is playing in a soccer tournament.  Our township is hosting this one which is nice, short ride to the field and the ability to stop home between games if we want.  The tournament itself started tonight but her team has all 3 games tomorrow.

After an awful fall with no wins a tie and the rest losses, the coach made some changes.  First he brought on an assistant to help him to work more closely with the girls in practice.  The practices are definitely more high impact and the girls are more focused.  He also pointed out something that we all saw very clearly, our little girls were in terrible shape.  They would come onto the field full of steam to play but within a few minutes were out of gas.  By the second half our girls were flat-footed to put it nicely.

Do not misunderstand me, none of us parents cared about the losses but seeing 7-8 year olds unable to play for the full-time was concerning.  Twice a week in practice they now start and finish with a half mile run for a total of 1 mile.  The first time Megan had to complete the run we had tears, lots of them!  Before she even started she told me she would never be able to finish. It was tough for me to watch, I even went out and jogged part of the last lap with her to try to get her through.

It has been 4 weeks now and the results are showing.  The team’s record is 2-1-1 and they play much stronger.  With the tournament this weekend all of the fields have been closed in preparation.  Coach wanted to make sure the girls were focused so he had them show up at the park Thursday night for a run.  When we arrived we were informed that the distance would be 2 miles.  No timers, no winners just finish and NO walking.  Wow…I will admit I was worried.  I whispered in Megan’s ear a reminder, breath, pace yourself and do not worry about what anyone else is doing or where you are in the group just stay focused and finish.

I stood with the father of another girl from the team and we watched the girls pass us, (each lap is a half mile).  After the first mile I gave her a small drink and told her how great she was doing.  After the next lap she was struggling but on ward she went.  At the end of the fourth lap the coach patted each girl on the back as they came across told them to grab a water and walk one more for cool down.  I walked with her with pride.  My baby who literally almost collapsed the first run had just completed twice the distance with no tear and told me that although her legs felt like jelly she felt great!

I will admit that at first I thought the coach was a bit rough.  He was asking too much from little kids.  Sometimes it takes events like this to remind me, although I want to protect them from every ouch, every pain, I can not wrap them in bubble wrap.  The best way to protect them is to ensure that they are strong, healthy and confident.  I don’t know what the results of the games will be but I am sure that the girls will play hard and with confidence, and in the end that is all we could ever hope.