June 24, 2007 11:49 AM
Boy Scout camp, weekend guests, rugby injury, sunflower seeds, and - oh, yes - writing
Jonny left for Boy Scout Camp last Sunday. I was so proud of him. When he asked to join the Boy Scouts last year, the troop at our church had never had a kid with disabilities before and they were just a little hesitant - said they had to pray about it - and at first Tripp had to accompany him to meetings. But Jonny quickly proved himself, and he has been able to attend some overnight trips without special assistance. This time he was gone for a week!
The bad news was that a stomach virus began going through the camp, hitting 18 out of 42 boys. Jonny had managed to elude it, until the bus trip home Saturday. They transferred him from the well bus to the sick bus and we prepared a quarantine room at home since Zach had three guests for the weekend - his best friend from school plus younger sister and brother had come down from Pennsylvania. Everyone was having too good a time to want to end it early, so we came up with a plan to clear Daniel out his and Jonny's room and just let Jonny watch movies in between throwing up. He's been pretty comfortable and hasn't thrown up now for about 20 hours, so I'm hoping we're all clear.
Tomorrow he's supposed to start drama camp - The Growing Stage - a three week summer day camp he's done every year since we moved here in 2002. The difference is that this year Sophia and Maddy are not attending and Ben is not teaching as he did last year (actually Sophia's teaching another camp at another location). So for the first time, Jonny has no sibling support. I offered to hire an assistant but the staff talked about it and decided that Jonny does just fine on his own, so he will be doing High School Musical for three weeks, and then The Music Man for three weeks. This is really his break away summer, I guess!
Thursday night Zach and Ben were playing rugby and Zach came in at 8:00 looking like this:
Exactly twenty four hours later, after
-one trip to the Emergency Room where they decided stitches should wait for a plastic surgeon the next morning,
-one trip to the plastic surgeon's office where he was told to go to another hospital where he would have the right facilities to do the stitching
-and a final trip to the farther-away hospital to do the stitching
Zach looked like this:
I looked like this: Oh, never mind, I didn't take a picture of myself, but I probably looked like I do when I'm in the back of a cab and the meter is running: Copay here, copay there, here a copay, there a copay, everywhere a copay. Not to mention that my so-called health insurance now charges not only $100 for a hospital visit, but also 20% of the total bill. Sheesh.
And by the way, it was Ben's forehead that collided with Zach's cheekbone after they landed on the same guy. If he weren't a poor starving college student, I guess I could sue him :)
Did you know Sophia plays rugby too? She has a bumper sticker on her car that says Trample the weak, hurtle the dead. Ben and Zach have one that says Rugby: a hooligan's game played by gentlemen. Rugby players are fiercely proud of their sport.
In the meantime, Tripp planted sunflowers with the Junior Downzers (I guess that's what I'll call them when Jonny's away):
While I worked on generating content for the MommyTeachMe site (will announce more about this next week) and an article for Citizen magazine - plus feeding weekend guests (love that) and ministering to Jonny.
I highly recommend planting sunflowers with kids, btw. The results are so impressive!
Comments
What a few days you have had. I must tell you how impressed I am that you have been able to continue corresponding with me on our project, even while shuffling many other tasks, especially the illness and injury. I hope you have a fabulous Sunday.
Posted by: Rebecca P | June 24, 2007 1:03 PM
oh my *goodness*, what a weekend! and what beautiful eyes Zach has!
Posted by: bonnie | June 24, 2007 4:39 PM
It's weekends like this that keep us young, right?? ;) Hope everyone is feeling better from illness and injuries soon. That eye, though, is definitely a trophy wound!
Posted by: Cheryl (Copper's Wife) | June 24, 2007 6:09 PM
That's quite a gash! Great before and after picture. :)
Posted by: Janet | June 24, 2007 6:50 PM
Um....rugby sounds kind of....um....violent! OUCH! I think I would die if my son walked in like that. And Jonny looks so manly in his Boy Scout stuff.
Posted by: Janet | June 24, 2007 6:51 PM
two things, when I take photos of Jeff like that one you took of Tripp, he usually makes a comment about how I always get the balding spot. I usually feel bad so I have missed some great shots because of that.
second, I took Connor to a rugby game when he was about 1 or 2 because our friend played. The coach said something like, "watch him. I coached one game in australia and the ball nearly killed a boy that age." I never knew rugby before that day but after watching, I believe him!!
Posted by: janet | June 26, 2007 9:37 PM
ummmm...mental note--never let my kids play rugby! That looks like it hurt!
Hope Jonny had a great time at camp!
Posted by: millicent | June 27, 2007 12:47 AM
Holy Moley!! I thought that was zack in a new role wearing stage makeup! I had to go back and look again after I found out that indeed was NOT makeup!! i find that original picture funny too...i guess it is his expression. like he's thinking, "yep. this is going to be a great scar story!"
and what a week! Barbara, do you need a nap? I would be so ready to crawl into bed after such a week!
hooray for Johnny!! but i must ask, does it ever get any easier seeing your kids grow and become such intelligent, confident, independent beings? I got a lump in my throat seeing him all dressed up and ready to confidently venture out! I can only imagine how proud you must have felt! Johnny, Way to go! :)
~kristy in England
Posted by: Kristy | June 27, 2007 5:45 AM
