Saturday, June 2, 2012

Trying something new ....

I think I will call this ' High / Low Friday.'  Or lazy blogger post. Hard to say, but either works. And maybe, if I am struggling to post something another day, this can be my go to filler. Anyway, credit for the concept really goes to my eldest Jessica and her future husband Matt. I'll have to ask them when they started doing this, but the idea is to sit together at the end of the day and instead of going over every bit of your day, you just pick a 'high' and a 'low' point of your day and the conversation will evolve from there. Genius. Or at least I think so.


My low today began with this:

Yep, this is my vacuum cleaner. And Zoey loves it. The minute I turn it on, she scoots over to me and continues to follow me as I make my way around the downstairs. She likes to get close and put her tiny hand on the warm top and there usually is a bit of air blowing as well . Which she likes. So today, we are doing our thing. I make my way into the family room. She is fairly close behind me, scooting alongside the cord. I stop to move a large ottoman we have. I place the vacuum in the upright position, still running and proceed to move the piece of furniture and all of the sudden I hear the unmistakable sound of something being sucked into the brush of the vacuum. I am certain that it is Zoey's pretty little skirt she is wearing, I turn quickly to see, nope, not her skirt, I wish. Instead .... it is her beautiful, long flowing .... hair. Sucked up to her precious little scalp.



 I turn off the cleaner, gently unwind her hair and by this time, she is hysterical and me, shortly thereafter, I was too. Felt like a crap mother number one. Should have seen that coming but mostly, the reality, of it was this. Zoey was clueless and helpless. She could not call for me and she could not help herself in anyway. Like I said ... helpless. Which is true across the board, the truth be told. I could leave her in a room for instance. Unattended for an extended period of time and that would be that. She could not do one thing to help herself. She would more then likely not 'say' a word. At least not anything that would be understood by anyone. I cannot leave her on a chair or the couch and certainly cannot leave her 5 year old body in the tub for even a second. She is, simply put, a 100 % dependant on another human being, severely disabled child. It wasn't really about the vacuum. It was about that kick in the gut reality check that comes from time to time. An unwelcome reminder. I got over myself fairly quickly and moved on with my day. Cuz that my friends, is how I do it.

As for the high:



 It would have to be this child. My handsome rocker boy. Who hates to shop but was so loving going to pick out an outfit this evening for his student concert jam session tomorrow night. He knew just what he wanted, my little anti-shopper. Black Levis with a solid black dress shirt. Found them immediately. He walked out of the dressing room with this air of confidence.



And might I add, walked out looking so grown up all of the sudden. I looked at him, my 11 year old newly contact lense wearer, beautiful boy and my heart nearly leap from my chest. Realizing, 12 years ago exactly, I boarded a plane and headed to Chapel Hill, North Carolina for a tubal reversal that would result in the blessing of not only this child, my first son, but two other unexpected gifts. The last being Zoey. The one we say we waited for all of our lives.

The same child who thankfully still is sporting long and flowing locks. No thanks to me. Scratch me off the list once again for that Mother of The Year award.


16 comments:

charity said...

poor zoey that had to be horrible for her not being able to let you know her hair was stuck in the vacum. i hope shes not afraid of it now. my daughter is very afraid of the vacuum

Kristin said...

How scary! I vacuumed up a stuffed animal and ripped it's leg off. Now I cringe every time Max sits on the floor trying to grab at the vacuum for fear it will be a finger. And what a rock star!

Bea Braun said...

Oh my gosh I was waiting for you to say you had to cut her hair short!!! She has such lovely hair, I'm glad you were able to "unwind" it. How scary for both of you. In the grand scheme though, she definitely has the right family to be dependent on.

Jake looks so handsome!

We do highs and lows every night at dinner. We got it years ago from the movie Regarding Henry. A nice way to get the kids to share :)

Elizabeth said...

I know I owe you my post about the time that Sophie was almost scalped.

Zoey is so beautiful.

That Jake is so beautiful. I'm a little nervous about how beautiful he is with a guitar. In black. The necklace. The whole picture. Yikes.

Jeana said...

Kaelyn absolutely LOVES the vacuum too, sometimes I vacuum just because we are bored and I know she will love it. She too follows me everywhere and one day I vacuumed over her little bare foot. Yea I felt terrible, I was afraid she would hate the vacuum, but no, that girl is so forgiving she even gave him a break and still loves the thing to death. Can't wait till be can get together and our girls can share their vacuum stories :) So glad she didn't get hurt and that her hair is still in tact. If chemo didn't take it, the vacuum is no match for those locks! Love you guy, and you my friend are still very much in the running for the mother of the CENTURY! Look at your beautiful kids!

blogzilly said...

The vacuum story is mortifying. We sometimes forget, even the Mom's and Dad's who live with these kids how severely disabled they actually ARE and how constant the attention needed actually is.

I do it, we all have done it. Turn your back for but an instant at the wrong place and wrong time and...well, something happens.

BUT, it also happens with the typical kids in your home too, yes? Does here. So keep that in mind while you are doing the whammy-jammy on your Motherhood status. ;)

krlr said...

We do something very similar - worst part/best part. My son would otherwise recap his entire 7 hrs at school with "fine".

Your son, by the way, is so handsome & grown up at 11!

Sorry about the vacuum incident. And the resulting gut kick. I always find those reminders from the universe entirely unnecessary. Hoping you're having a lovely weekend.

Cammie Heflin said...

I completely smashed Addy's finger in her car seat the other day and was getting quite frustrated that I couldn't get it to buckle so I pushed harder. Then she cried and I realized why. She never said a word of course! So glad you have Zoey's amazingly gorgeous hair and you know how I adore your Jake. ALL of your children are phenomenal and I love and miss every one of them!

Shelly Turpin said...

so terrifying! Glad y'all are OK!

Anonymous said...

Oh sweet litte Zoey... how horrible that must have been for you.. Wow I guess that is a reality check that Zoey is unable to call out for help...yikes. Hope she is not terrified of the big "bad" cleaner as a result of this incident.

and Jake - wow is all I can say. He does look like a rocker dude, all decked out in his shirt & pants. He sure has grown up! With his new contacts everyone can see those beautiful brown eyes. (compliments of Dad) I can see it coming... the girls/ladies are gonna love this Jake guy!! (How I wish there had been a guitar available for him to play when he, Joe & Mark were at the "lake" last summer). Oh well - another item to add to "my CA list" next time I'm out your way.

Great idea Jess & Matt!-a high and a low per day... I shall have to start that little exercise myself! One low is really enough per day...(gotta remember that)!

Bluebelle

Life and Times . . . said...

Oh, that's absolutely the worst feeling as a mom. The "I can't believe I let this happen" feeling. I know it's only compounded by the fact that Zoey can't ask for help. But you have to know, that all moms have been here and done stuff (let stuff) like this (happen). I'm glad you were able to untangle her without too much hair loss.

Jessica said...

"Highs and lows" is a McKee family thing :)

colleen said...

You are definitely mother of the year... because mother's of the year are not perfect... they are there for you. Your insight into your child's utter dependence was an aha moment for me.. everything you are able to juggle w/ all the age ranges of your kids is, well.. mother of the year material...
Jake looks like you and others in your fam.. can't quite pinpoint it but have always seen you in both of your boys.. so handsome!
BTW... I am dreaming of trading in my upright for a canister, care to join me?

colleen said...

So, I think you are mother of the year.. because of everything written in this post. Smart too!
Jake looks like you!
P.S. thinking of trading in my upright for a lightweight portable canister w/ lots of attachments.. care to join me?

Joyce said...

I chipped Sarah's front tooth with the hair dryer a few weeks ago. At age 22. There are pillars all around you Heather. Never forget we are here. We are in this together.

Handsome, handsome boy. Love that he has his mucic to turn to.

Melissa said...

Jake is so, so handsome! He is going to be a heart breaker.

I hate the feeling, knowing something you did (or didn't do) caused pain or fear for our kids. More than anything I wish this job of mothering came without guilt for not being perfect. So glad that everything was okay.