Gracie

It has been an extremely rough weekend. Grace came home on Friday not feeling well. She spent the entire weekend with a very high 103.7 +/- fever both days along with vomiting and sore throat. We figured (Chad did) she had the flu. I told him yesterday morning we should take her to the pediatrician while he was open because I suspected strep throat. But oh no, did I listen to my mommy instinct? Of course not. Gracie doesn't usually run a fever unless she is really sick and then when she does her normal body temp is 97.3 so 103 is high, but even more so when your normal body temp is lower than what is "normal". Well today with still that very high fever and her not being to keep down liquids at all, let a lone medicine, we did call the pediatrician and thankfully he was on-call. He suspected strep as well and thought she may need to have an IV for some fluids. So in we take her and she is so brave. She gets through with triage and into a room we go. She got hooked up to the IV. She didn't cry or even wince. A flood of memories come back...

When Grace was first born and had been home about a week, she had to be taken into the hospital. She was very ill and not nursing or bottle feeding. I distinctly watching that ICU nurse trying to get a vein to start an IV and almost had to put it in her skull because her veins were so tiny and dehydrated. It was one of the most scary things that had ever happened to us. Mom even baptised her in the hospital sink because it was so touchy for a couple days there. Even while in the womb Grace was a trooper and incredibly strong.

So tonight I sit here exhausted, trying to not get sick and trying not to lose it. I never knew all of the years before Grace the intensity of the love a parent can have for their child. That natural instinct we have because we know our child better than anyone. We know the ebb and flow of their breathing patterns, we know their souls, we just know. Tonight I am grateful for Gracie being on the other side of the fever, for a family that loves each other so much, for life ~ I am grateful.

Thanks to R for sending on this information...

A statistical perspective on the Prop 8 & 4 of CA:

Speaking pure money numbers, the proposition pro/opponents spent this money to campaigning.

Stop caging chickens/cows: $7 million
Letting teenage girls get an abortion without telling their parents: against it $8 million
Banning gay marriage: $30 million.

Odd numbers. So now in California we won't cage chickens & cows. But we will let a 15 year old girl get an abortion without telling her parents. Which according to the dollar amount, they felt equally strong about.And Gay men & women can't get married.I hope they feel the money was well spent.

THE SPOILED UNDER-30 CROWD!!!

I didn't write this, but thought it was cute after a long weekend of teenagers at convention...

THE SPOILED UNDER-30 CROWD!!!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning ... Uphill... barefoot... BOTH ways. Yadda, yadda, yadda And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it! But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today.

You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia! And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it! I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalogue!! There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter, with a pen! ...Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there! There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up!

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called,
they got a busy signal, that's it! And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your Bookie,
your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

You had to use a Little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel and there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards! And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we had to use the stove ... Imagine that!

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled. You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980!

Regards,

The over 30 Crowd

Over the weekend I went to the Catholic High School Youth Convention. Had a marvelous time. I think perhaps this was the best yet in terms of content shared. It is always amazing and breathtaking to see 2000+ youth praying together, whether it is during mass, in song with lots of jumping and other movement or in quiet reflection. Going into the weekend I was still uncertain of how I was going to vote. I was/am a proud card carrying Republican, but Sarah Palin...Nothing more needs to be said. However, for those of you who really know me when it comes to the social aspects of all of this I believe that we are all equal in God's eyes and as a society we have an obligation to treat people as such regardless if we disagree with them.

So I thought Barack, he's young, seems to want "change" and he's charismatic. Maybe that's what we need. He inspired young people and old people to vote for the first time in their lives. That I find incredible.

But then on Sunday of this convention there was a young nun who is maybe in her 20's. She started giving statistics about abortion. Since 1973 (The year I was born) over 50 million abortions have been performed. More shocking to me was that it equates to 1/3 of this generation. 1/3! I appreciate that she also said that women who have had to make this life changing, heart breaking decision need our love and compassion NOT our judgement.

So onto election day. Grace comes home and says that she voted for Barack because I liked him (which is true). Election night, I have my map ready, counting the states and their votes, watching for I-1000, Prop 4 & 8 in CA... How is it that we live in a society that will legalize killing people (you'd better hope you have better than HMO insurance) but will not give the right to two adults who want to legalize their union because they are committed to each other? How is it that schools may not even give an aspirin or a cough drop with out parent consent, but will allow that same girl to have an abortion without even so much as a waiting period or talking to a responsible adult in her life. Even if her parents are the cause of this pregnancy, shouldn't someone besides Planned Parenthood be counselling this young girl on all of the choices she has and how every choice has good and bad consequences? But a committed gay couple cannot be married, and yet we have terminated 1/3 of this generation legally. Which is more life-giving? Which causes more harm to our families and society. I cannot make sense of it.

I have, though, taken the advice of that young nun and will be praying the rosary daily. I will be praying for the Obama family and their safety and for good and wise council to surround him. I will be praying for the young girls who in desperation have to look outside their home for guidance, love and support. I will be praying for my gay brothers and sisters who only want equality in a CIVIL union. I will be praying the insurance companies do not see life as valued by dollars when approving or denying treatment, but that each life has worth and dignity regardless of their ability to pay. I invite you to join me in what ever form of prayer/meditation you believe in for our country and the dignity of people. Even though the election is over, do not stop participating. If you believe strongly in something then do something about it. When we know better we do better...