The next Friday all of us except Kate were watching Thor Love and Thunder in the basement. (So fun, by the way. Exceeded my expectations.) Right after the movie finished Kate started yelling that there was water coming out of the ceiling. She and A & J had come home and the area by our front door was dripping. Turns out that the master suite toilet had filled and filled and filled for hours just like the Jack and Jill bathroom had about five years ago. Hubby and I jumped into action turning off the water at that toilet and me starting to mop up water while Hubby did things like drill holes in the ceiling to let water out and removing the dry wall and insulation where (luckily) most of the water had gone out to the garage. Way easier to deal with water damage out there. Hubby got up on a ladder, cut out the drywall and removed the wet insulation. Hubby bought a new wet vac, industrial fan, and mold preventer at Home Depot as well. We had so many fans going and let everything dry out for days (and Hubby removed lots of baseboards). Our house was a mess upstairs but we decided that dealing with it ourselves instead of paying a water mitigation company that would make an even bigger mess and only care about their paycheck was worth our effort. By the time we got to sleep that night we were exhausted and I was beginning to develop a fear of Friday nights around 9pm.
Honestly, even though dealing with the water damage was a pain, the mental pain I was causing myself by worrying about Danny constantly was a lot worse. With the echos of three different doctors telling us that if he hit his head again he would die instantly and knowing Danny wasn’t following the doctors advice got a front row seat in my brain. Danny was coming home every day from school with a headache around 1:30pm. My mom would come to our house on the days that I was at work or had an appointment and be there for when I would drive Danny home. My coworkers knew that when the health clerk came to our classroom it was time for my ten minute break it was time for me to drive him home and come back. No surprise that F in Algebra kept getting bigger and bigger when he was leaving school everyday before the class even began.
On Sunday I got the news one of our coworkers needed to leave town for a family emergency and my boss asked me if I could work every day to help cover for her. Of course! This coverage option was one reason why I wanted to work part time. I wanted my team to have para subs, which were pretty hard to come by last school year. Turns out I get paid $3 less per hour when I show up as a sub but I’m not in it for the money. I hope that’s obvious. Oh, and in good news: Hubby got a promotion and pay raise at work that more than makes up for me changing from full time to part time! I’m so proud of him and am grateful his bosses appreciate him!
I was glad to be at the school every day again. I liked being there and knowing how Danny was doing. I know the teachers and admin and staff were doing everything they could for him. Turns out Friday nights weren’t to be feared but I was thinking of the phrase “it comes in threes.” I felt like I was waiting “for the other shoe to drop” and this time I didn’t have to wait until the last day of the work week. I knew something was wrong when the head of the SPED department and our most relied on para left the building but I just kept doing my job. We were told the principal was going to meet with the entire SSN team and when we walked in there were also staff from the school district level present. Our staff that had left were back and they were noticeably upset. You could tell the principal felt bad having to break the news to us. One of our students had gone in for a needed surgery and died. Those of us who had known him and worked with him burst into tears. We cried buckets together in that room for over half an hour. It has been over a week since we got the news and I almost burst into tears any time I think about his smile. To say we were devastated was an understatement. We miss him terribly. Having someone from the school district tell us to pull it together before we left the room because we weren’t supposed to tell anyone else yet did not help. And I couldn’t. I thought I could go home and pretend but when I saw my dad helping Michelle with Algebra homework and Natalie watching I just had to give him a hug and cry on his shoulder. Poor Michelle and Natalie joined in on the hug and I had to tell him what happened. Natalie kept trying to cheer me up but at one point I had to tell her that I wanted to be sad that day. I hope she knows that we can choose negative emotions sometimes and that it’s a good thing. By the time Hubby got home I was too numb to even tell him. Later that night when I hit the anger phase I told him but honestly, I think I was so dehydrated I couldn’t even cry anymore. I buffered with watching tv while snuggling Natalie, eating sugar, and taking the time to do a “processing” yoga routine with Adrienne on YouTube. The next morning I woke up with the beginnings of a migraine and took some Excedrin first thing and was able to go to work. Turns out the Excedrin was keeping a few of us afloat for the next couple of days. It was hard but I was glad to help out the whole week. And the coworker that needed to be out of state? Turns out her mom died. We actually got that news while we were crying about our student together.
I decided then that I did not like September of 2022. Green Day’s Wake Me Up When September Ends would play in my head. Do you know the story behind that song? Taken from Americansongwriter.com:
“Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong penned the lyrics to this song in the aftermath of his father’s death on September 10, 1982. At the funeral, Armstrong cried, ran home, and locked himself in his room. When his mother got home and knocked on the door to his room, he simply said, “Wake me up when September ends,” reportedly coming up with the title then and there.”
I remember talking to my mom on the phone about how she could help for the upcoming week and telling her I was afraid for a new week to begin. When Natalie came down sick with whatever had knocked all five of the rest of us out for a couple days each (like dominoes) I canceled the Activity Days tin foil dinner night at our house for the next night. Boy was I glad I did because while I was at our weekly team meeting our dishwasher decided to go out with a bang by flooding the main floor and seeping into the basement the same day the AD girls would have been at our house. So now all three floors of our home have water damage to repair and the wood floors we had redone less than a year ago are warped around the kitchen island. We also now are hand washing all our dishes, which is also an opportunity to clean out our disposable paper products and silverware. Lol. Want to know something else? We had already ordered a new dishwasher when we noticed this one was leaking sometimes and the inside was falling apart and it wasn’t cleaning all that great anyway. So we are definitely looking forward to a new dishwasher in a couple weeks. Hubby and I had to remind each other that we are stinking lucky to have a house with things like a dishwasher and that this sort of thing is really just a first world problem and we are actually doing pretty well. I’m so glad I convinced Hubby to play hooky from work with me one morning so we could eat breakfast at First Watch after we got all the kids dropped off at school. The two of us being able to spend time together reminded me that even with all the difficulties at work, school, and home we really do have a wonderful life. I feel pretty darn lucky to be so in love with my spouse.
A highlight of September for me was seeing Kate in her first homecoming parade with the other volleyball players and helping her go shopping for her first high school dance. All three of my girls and I went down to the mall after school on Friday since Michelle had birthday party presents to buy for friends and Natalie was game to join the rest of us. We were able to get shoes at Macy’s, jewelry at Windsor, makeup at Sephora, and (the next next day) her dress at Ross. Imagine my surprise when after trying on half a dozen dresses at the mall and Ross the dress she picked out was only $13! The fall themed blanket I impulsed purchased for our couch while she was in the dressing room was $10. Lol. Kate went with a great group of friends that planned things out really well. They took pictures in a great spot, had dinner at a friend’s house, went to the dance and had a great time, then spent the night where they had eaten dinner. Kate came home plenty tired but seemed to have a good first experience with high school dances. And I know she doesn’t like my compliments but I thought she looked ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS and I was so proud of her for putting everything together and doing her hair and makeup all by herself.
While Kate got ready for homecoming the rest of us went to Anderson Farms with the county’s post adoption support group. Kate had wanted to go too but since the dress shopping had spilled into Saturday we invited our neighbor, S, at the last minute. It was a fun couple hours going through the corn maze, having snacks at the pavilion with the county group, and trying some of the other activities they had to offer like duck races and picking out pumpkins for our front porch. It was a great little afternoon adventure. And I’m sure it was helpful to Kate to have the house to herself while she was getting ready for homecoming. We made it home in time for Michelle to go to her slumber party celebrating two of her friends, R & S.
Now that Danny is exactly a month out from his concussion I wish I could tell you Danny is fully recovered and feeling great. In good news he is now going to school all day, feeling good hanging out with friends, and is truly a great brother. In not so good news, science class is giving him headaches and he’s still flunking algebra at a whopping 11%. We had a phone follow up with the neurologist after Danny got hit by a stray basketball during lunch recess and now he can’t even have lunch with his friends. It’s super hard on him and even though the neurologist told us not to worry about his grades this quarter, I have to wonder how he’s going to rebound. After having to eat lunch in the office he was pretty upset when we also didn’t let him go hang out with his skateboarding friends after dark on a school night. The next day found me pulling him out of school early so he could go to the physical therapist. Why? Because he decided to throw some baseballs into our practice net as hard as he could to deal with his frustration (totally healthy) but forgot to warm up first and re-injured his bicep. (Photo from an evening where Danny was practicing hitting off the tee before hurting his arm.) Luckily the PT is very optimistic that Danny will be able to heal up nicely both brain and bicep. It was good to hear after going to the pediatrician earlier in the day with Michelle. Let’s just say it was a good thing I took her in because the problem was even worse than I suspected. We are hoping some prescription medication will help her feel better sooner rather than later.
Maybe she got snuck some real darkness potion while she was playing the part of Alice in The Addams Family musical at Jesters last week. Michelle did a magnificent job playing both the sunshine and rainbows future mother in law of Wednesday Addams and the reality checked mom that needed to have her voice heard. She had a great time and Hubby, my mom, Natalie and I loved watching her perform. My mom even thought to buy flowers! We are grateful Jesters decided to reopen and are already excited for the next play.
Other photos of Michelle are with cupcakes to celebrate her half birthday, a candid photo from dance class, and her Young Women's class at the Temple together. Michelle and I refer to Sister B as the best YW leader ever. I'm glad Michelle feels that way since Michelle will be working with Sister B more closely as the new class president.
Natalie was super excited to go to her first softball game of the season. I think she has the strangest team name I've ever heard of for kids in Colorado but whatever. The girls don't seem to mind. She has a coach she had back when she was on the Pugs and we were pretty excited because that season was so fun and the girls learned lots. She also has two great assistant coaches we know from the elementary school and Hubby is grateful he doesn't have to add coaching to his list of things to do this fall. Natalie enjoyed having Hubby coach but is having a great time just having him come to watch games. She was also happy as a clam to attend a birthday party at the rec center swimming pool and I was thrilled to talk to some of my favorite people again. September ended on a great note for Natalie and I due to another family in the ward. The M family hosted a mother daughter Hocus Pocus 2 premiere party complete with costumes, great decorations, stew for dinner, showing the movie in the basement for the girls and a great conversation upstairs for the moms. I met a couple moms I have never met before and loved hearing about their lives past, present, and hope for the future. I do love humans so much, especially the ones I live with.
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