It's so funny it hurts
I was talking with my coworker Carol and she was sharing about her current struggles. Her mother passed away in June and Carol had to set up her disabled brother in his own apartment. (Which still continues to be a struggle). Her husband has had a series of medical problems so much so that Carol is retiring at the end of this year to care for her husband even though she knows she can't afford it.
I shared with her our struggle 11 years ago with our terminally ill son, Matthew. He eventually died on June 1st, 1995. The most difficult week before that was in October of 1994 when Matthew as 2 months old. My wife and I had gone up to Seattle to confirm his diagnosis of Junctional Epidermolysis Bullosa. On Monday, October 24th, the Dr. confirmed the diagnosis and told us that Matthew had a 10% chance of making to his 1st birthday. We came back to Portland with that news and shared it with friends and family. (I will post the letter in the next blog.) Lee Anne's father, who discovered he had colon cancer in January of 1994, died on Friday, October 28th.
What made that week from hell a little more bearable was what happened with the "Tooth Thief" in our house.
Our oldest son, Jonathan (age 7 at the time) had a loose tooth. I offered to tie a string around it and a door knob to facilitate the process but I received a negative response. On Tuesday the 25th, the tooth came out. I told Jonathan, "You know the drill, put the tooth under your pillow, in the morning, there will be a quarter. (Cheap, Cheap). We all went to bed. About five minutes later, my wife whispered, "Did you remember the quarter?" I jumped out of bed, grabbed a quarter and went into Jon's room and lifted up his pillow. No tooth! So I looked under the bed, around the sleeping kid and could not find the tooth. I then put quarter under the pillow and went back to bed.
In the morning, I asked Jonathan, "Where is your tooth?" He says: "I don't know". His brother David (age 6) pipes up and says: "I got it!" I replied: "What do you mean "you got it"?
"Well, I did not have a loose tooth and I wanted a quarter so I took his tooth and put it under my pillow!"
I shared with her our struggle 11 years ago with our terminally ill son, Matthew. He eventually died on June 1st, 1995. The most difficult week before that was in October of 1994 when Matthew as 2 months old. My wife and I had gone up to Seattle to confirm his diagnosis of Junctional Epidermolysis Bullosa. On Monday, October 24th, the Dr. confirmed the diagnosis and told us that Matthew had a 10% chance of making to his 1st birthday. We came back to Portland with that news and shared it with friends and family. (I will post the letter in the next blog.) Lee Anne's father, who discovered he had colon cancer in January of 1994, died on Friday, October 28th.
What made that week from hell a little more bearable was what happened with the "Tooth Thief" in our house.
Our oldest son, Jonathan (age 7 at the time) had a loose tooth. I offered to tie a string around it and a door knob to facilitate the process but I received a negative response. On Tuesday the 25th, the tooth came out. I told Jonathan, "You know the drill, put the tooth under your pillow, in the morning, there will be a quarter. (Cheap, Cheap). We all went to bed. About five minutes later, my wife whispered, "Did you remember the quarter?" I jumped out of bed, grabbed a quarter and went into Jon's room and lifted up his pillow. No tooth! So I looked under the bed, around the sleeping kid and could not find the tooth. I then put quarter under the pillow and went back to bed.
In the morning, I asked Jonathan, "Where is your tooth?" He says: "I don't know". His brother David (age 6) pipes up and says: "I got it!" I replied: "What do you mean "you got it"?
"Well, I did not have a loose tooth and I wanted a quarter so I took his tooth and put it under my pillow!"
posted by Glen at 9:39 PM
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