Parents of the HS Class of 2009 (Part 1)

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
34401

<p>'Round here there’d be a hullabaloo if recycling got dumped into trash, c_q. My favorite recycling vehicle is the truck that picks up used cooking oil, which then gets refined into fuel (diesel?) for small vans/trucks. It chugs along, smelling of french fries. (Which is better than the smell emanating from most diesel vehicles, imo.) Glad your daughter is settling into her new temp position…here’s hoping it leads to something permanent. And I hope you and your D avoid the plague.</p>

<p>60 yesterday, 4" of snow today. Winter in the Rockies.</p>

34402

<p>we decided we would play a drinking game everytime MIL repeated something we would take a drink, then we figured out we would be trashed in 15 minutes. Black humor its how we cope.</p>

34403

<p>Make that 8" of snow. But not especially cold.</p>

34404

<p>All the trees but the huge one undecorated, still need to put away the Dickens Village, too. Just found out that our neighbors daughter was in a car accident-in a coma, in critical condition. Absolutely brilliant girl in her late 20s. Sounds like there will be brain issues if she survives. Give your kids a hug if they are still around</p>

34405

<p>Missy, how sad. I’d gladly hug mine as soon as I stop wanting to bat him over the head with a wifflebat :)</p>

<p>Through all forms of misadventure, the mcgenius has killed the new-this-summer battery in the jeep (by repeatedly allowing said jeep to be parked with a door ajar, we suspect after some q&a). Now he can’t get it to charge via jumpers without it dying a block later etc. so it is presently parked and tagged by police.</p>

<p>So we told him on NYE he could either have it towed on his dime or, a cheaper option would be to remove battery, take it to service station and have them put it on a trickle charger to determine if the battery itself is actually the problem (its brand new, so we doubt it.) That way, he’d know whether to suspect the alternator, or whether we could just have him swap the battery for a new one, put it in, and then resolved the door-closing-properly, which I suspect is related to said door being frozen in place.</p>

<p>This is basically what I would have done as a kid wanting to minimize tow and mechanic bills. And I guess I wanted him to manage the experience and be responsible for the resolution so that he learns to think/act this way in terms of property care-taking.</p>

<p>But this would require getting out of bed sometime before your noon shift starts on one of the two days service stations were actually open this week :)</p>

<p>Needless to say, it is now Sunday, the vehicle has to be moved by tomorrow, and he will likely have to waste money towing it because he can’t find a service station open with a trickle charger. In which case, he should have just towed it NYE.</p>

<p>When I was his age, I had all sorts of vehicle misadventure, so I understand and that’s not what irritates me. What irritates me is that he seems to not have prioritized the care-taking of this property mch gave him. </p>

<p>But I’ll send him a hug anyway, because this is small stuff in the bigger picture, as missy rightly points out, so thanks for the reminder :)</p>

34406

<p>I tossed and turned all night, alternatively worrying about, and praying for, my neighbor’s daughter. Life can change forever in a second. She has a full time job with health insurance, but is certainly in that “healthy uninsured (invincible)” age group. </p>

<p>Had a fun time last nigh at a new casual restaurant, even with “I am not talking to you until I am no longer grounded” younger D. We saw quite a few people we know and the drinks were good (and strong).</p>

<p>Downton Abbey tonight. I renewed my pledge to the local PBS station and chose this season of Downtown Abbey as my thank you gift. (I usually don’t take a thank you gift, but this one was irresistible.) It hasn’t shipped yet, but it will be a nice surprise for H.</p>

<p>Once all trees have been undecorated and the village has been boxed up, I will be off the hook while H and Son spend Monday and/or Tuesday actually taking down the trees and putting it all out of sight.</p>

34407

<p>kmc, just the laugh I needed this morning. S2 is a similar slug. There are so many things he should be taking care of that he never seems to get around to doing. It helps to know he isn’t the only one. </p>

<p>Missypie, so sorry to hear about your neighbor’s D.</p>

<p>C-Q, it sounds like your D is a great worker and may get some good promotion opportunities with her new company. </p>

<p>FallGirl, congrats on your S’s college acceptances.</p>

34408

<p>TA, once I actually talked to Winnie-the-poo this am and discovered his heroic if incompetent efforts to remedy the situation after his midnight shift ended last night, I caved and told him I’d pick up the tow and just to get it over to his place so that his friend, mch and I could get it all sorted out after the cold snap :slight_smile: Slight EDM in that he actually DID get the battery for the key fob and actually DID confirm the problem with the latch and also was able to confirm that all belts are tight and functioning. So we’ll call that progress :)</p>

<p>His gf’s flight has been delayed, homecoming party cancelled due to other delayed flights, and his Internet/cable is down and he’s trying to progress his grad school app on his only day off so it was time for a bit of mercy…</p>

34409

<p>So cold here. -11 at the moment with wind chills around -24. D1’s dog wants to go out and play! Crazy! Schools are closed for tomorrow and some businesses are telling their employees to work from home. H, of course, has to go to work at the hospitals. Started all of the cars this morning to make sure all is well. Heading to the grocery store in a bit. Saw on the news that there have been some empty milk and egg shelves. I guess I need to also stay in and do some cleaning and organizing. Definitely not my favorite thing to do!</p>

<p>missy…sorry to hear about your neighbor girl. So sad! Sending prayers!</p>

<p>kmc…I hear you! I sometimes wonder why my girls don’t think things through earlier in the process. At the moment I am disappointed in both of them for relatively minor issues. After hearing missy’s news I may have to readjust.</p>

34410

<p>Oh, Missy. Life changes in just a second. :(</p>

<p>We’re hosting a party tonight, so H has been out shoveling snow and I’ve been getting ready inside. Meanwhile, the city has sent somebody new with the mini-snowplow to plow the bike path across from us, and he/she is repeatedly hitting every segment edge with a thwack I can hear from seventy feet away. It must be bone-jarring inside.</p>

34411

<p>MP- that is terribly sad.</p>

<p>NM (and everyone else) this is a good time to just stay in. It’s nasty here with freezing rain, but H and I have to go out soon to pick up S from the bus.</p>

34412

<p>MP it is rough, a secretary at work’s D was injured as a pedestrian by a driver. she is looking at a year at least in rehab. another person at works best friend’s son the same thing, I keep telling my kids to LOOK. but sometimes its not their fault.
TM so impressed!
D2 back to school today this is my after holiday let down</p>

34413

<p>I have been sick in bed/couch for the past three days. Slammed to the wall. I alternate between nyquil and daycare… and regardless I end up asleep. It seems I’ve slept every three or so hours for three or so hours. And Ive indulged myself by watching seasons of Dexter. It’s been a weird three days to say the least! </p>

<p>But as of this morning we are back to the empty nest if only till Friday when S returns from skiing, which admittedly is very nice. D’s flight this morning was delayed with switched gates and lots of people trying to get the hell out of dodge before the frozen tundra becomes even more frozen! Temps to plummet tonight to record breaking. Honestly? I don’t even feel it anymore and as long as I can get from car to door, I seem able to survive living in this forsaken iceball of a place.</p>

<p>Missy - so so sorry to hear about your neighbors daughter. Life spins on a dime sometimes. I’ve been following the case of the little girl in CA who went in for a rather complicated tonsillectomy and then had a bleed. Determined to be brain dead by several docs, the family refuses to accept the dx and wants the child moved to an independent facility… of course, few except the most predatory will likely take the child, assuming she even survives the transfer. I am so unbelievably thankful to not have found myself in either one of these family’s positions… life’s potential stolen or life gone. tragedy regardless.</p>

34414

<p>Moda unfortunately I deal with this a lot. the family is also feeling guilty because she told the mom she thought something bad might happen. I hope you feel better. I can take the bare minimum of Nyquil. it knocks me on my keister, I looked up the ingredient and its stonger than phenabarb.</p>

34415

<p>DTE and other medical folks, please educate me. They did surgery on my neighbors D and there are 15 tubes in. So she will not die. But her brain function on a scale where 15 is the high … She is below a 2. Unfathomable. So once physical injuries heal, what next? Will she be sent to a nursing home even if still in a coma? Do her parents face any pulling the plug decision?</p>

34416

<p>I imagine they’ve induced the coma or are otherwise keeping her in one trying to mitigate brain swelling, which is usually a big problem. I am not a medical folk,so I wouldn’t have a clue technically, but am just guessing based on all the stuff I’ve read or seen over the years about brain injury. But I also guess that a two is bad… but not certain that it’s final or where that might land once some sort of recovery begins. I would hope the doctors are very broad with what the prognosis is… both good, bad and typical.</p>

<p>Not that this has ANY bearing here whatsoever, but my H seems only to ever hear the best case scenario sometimes as if the other alternate side has never been mentioned. So for example if the realtor says our house is worth between C and E on a scale of A to Z… he will only hear the E. Worse, he believes anything less is “taking a bath” and we’re just that more special that we should ask G!!! </p>

<p>I definitely would want an independent person to help me truly understand any ramifications of decisions made… That Terri Schiavo (sp) case was that she was in a vegetative state but required no life support to remain in that condition. The argued over a feeding tube vs pulling a plug. talk about a hell.</p>

34417

<p>Too sad for me to think about. I found out last night that someone I know lost his young child, born a few months ago with multiple medical conditions. A coworker lost his wife last week after a long illness. I just pray and am thankful that I am not in these situations. But I am really sad.</p>

<p>moda- glad you are feeling better.</p>

34418

<p>Fall Girl, how incredibly sad.</p>

<p>I looked up the 15 point scale - [TBI:</a> Glasgow Coma Scale](<a href=“http://www.traumaticbraininjury.com/symptoms-of-tbi/glasgow-coma-scale/]TBI:”>Glasgow Coma Scale – Traumatic Brain Injury)</p>

<p>Did I mention that the accident occurred last Monday (but I just learned about it on Saturday [a sad comment on our relationship which used to be very close])? Anyway, a lot of internal bleeding, surgery to stop that…she was a 2 on the Glasgow Coma Scale. They did surgery to repair her crushed pelvis, which gave the family hope. After the brain swelling went down, she is now under 2. Less than 3 is “vegetative state.” How does a parent hear that about their beautiful, brilliant daughter? It is so unsettling to know that parents are experience about the worst agony you can think of, and you’re undecorating Christmas trees. (The accident occurred in a city 4 hours away where the D was living.)</p>

34419

<p>missypie and FallGirl. So sad to hear about such terrible things happening to people you know.</p>

34420

<p>The only positive thing I see about my neighbor’s situation is that her parents are still married to each other, and there is no spouse or fiance in the picture. If/when agonizing decisions need to be made, only the parents will need to agree. (I think the reason why the Terri Schiavo situation made the news is because her husband and parents disagreed.)</p>