Putting Life Into Perspective!!

(Since one of the main reasons for my Blog is a personal journal of the happenings in mine and my families lives this post today is for me….to have my feelings about the past 2 weeks journaled so I can remember the details in years to come! However My Editor (Tracy) thinks this is too wordy (Wink), but I am VERY detailed and I know that if I don't write down every detail I won't be able to remember them later.

These past 2 weeks have been a challenge and more than anything, it has put life into perspective and I have gained a deeper appreciation and more gratitude for my children and life!!

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(Friday July 31st, 2009)

Absolute PEACE, QUIET and ORDER was the description of my house last night and this morning.

After work I came home and I missed my kids running out and telling me “Hi Mom” as they heard the garage door coming up. After being home from work for 2 hours and no kids, I realized how much I LOVED and MISSED the “noise” and sometimes “chaos” that my kids bring to my life!!

I don’t know what I would do
if anything ever happened to them!!

My mom came up from Utah and watched Ethan at his soccer game last night and then took Jade and Ethan with her to spend a few days with them. She does this every year. My parents have a dry farm and they like to take the kids to the farm to enjoy the farming process and then my mom takes the kids to lunch and to get a new shirt to wear to school. The kids really look forward to this as they don’t get to see their grandparents very often since they live in a different state and they just LOVE the “one on one” attention she gives to them.

However, as much as I like my kids spending time with my mom I always get a little worried….hoping that they don’t get in a wreck, that something bad doesn’t happen to my kids with getting lost, or someone not seeing them while they are working at the farm, etc… Tracy and I have both experienced this same fear through the years although it is much less than it used to be. Now, we just enjoy getting to have a few days of US time and we know that it doesn’t do us any good to sit and worry because we can’t change what happens and so we just embrace the moment of having complete time for US with not interruptions. Looking forward to going on a rugged hike tomorrow with Tracy to one of our favorite primitive, natural hot springs that we try to frequent at least once a year.

Which brings me to the reason for this post….
Gratitude for JADE and the blessings of children in our lives!

Thursday July 16th, 2009
was just another ordinary day!

I got home from work around 1:20 and fixed the kids grilled cheese sandwiches and green smoothies for lunch, baked up cookies for Tracy to take home teaching that night, threw in a batch of laundry so Ethan’s soccer clothes would be clean to wear to his game that night and I also threw some chicken in the toaster oven to bake so I could make us a chicken/pasta salad that we could eat at the park after Ethan’s game (since it’s tempting to just grab a pizza after the game…I’ve been trying to be thrifty and pack a picnic to eat at the park after Ethan’s games)

I then decided to make up a second batch of cookies so Tracy and the kids could enjoy some cookies as well. (that’s not too nice to make cookies and give them all away and not have any for my family).

Well, in the midst of doing all of this, Jade said his usual: “Mom, I’m going to ride my bike around the Taylor’s loop”. And I replied with my usual words…”Just make sure you wear a helmet”.

Jade had been gone about 15 to 20 minutes (I can’t actually remember) when I received a phone call from one of our friends Jeff. He said: “Hey, just wanted to let you know that Jade wrecked on his bike. He is okay, his legs are scraped up pretty bad and he wanted me to call you and let you know to come and pick him up”.

SO, I was thinking…that is only about 1-1/2 miles away and I just put cookies in the oven that still have 10 more minutes to bake. I thought… I am just going to run and get Jade and his bike and I will be back in plenty of time to get the cookies out of the oven.

I hopped in the car and ran to pick up Jade…but, as I pulled up I noticed 2 ambulances there and as I made my way through the crowd I saw Jade laying on the ground with his bike close by…both tires of his bike were bent badly as well as the handle bars. Jade had LOTS of people checking him to make sure he was okay. I then looked to the right and saw a man laying on the ground with a motorcycle wrecked. I was amazed at the care all of the EMT workers had with Jade…wanting to make sure he was okay and stabilizing to prevent more injuries. He was in great care! My greatest feeling of all was that they were BOTH WEARING HELMETS!!

I just knew I had to stay calm, even though inside I was WORRIED sick and hoping the outcome from this would be okay! I felt helpless and really the only thing I could do to help out was to use my purse to provide Jade some shade from the hot sun. The asphalt was SO hot to lay on and with the sun blaring down it just made it that much worse. People had pulled blankets from their cars for them to lay on so it wouldn’t be SO hot.

My biggest concern at this moment was that Ethan was at home with cookies in the oven and so I asked someone if I could use their cell phone to call Ethan and tell him how to turn off the oven and pull the cookies out. However, that didn’t work because we always tell our kids to not answer the phone unless it is our number calling. SO, I made another quick phone call and called Tracy to tell him that Jade had been hit by a motorcycle and if he could call Ethan and walk him through turning off the oven.

(Jades cut shorts and shirt)
In the midst of making these phone calls, I witnessed them cutting off Jade’s brand new shorts that he loved (they were what he got for his birthday) and also his favorite Beatles shirt. It made me feel SO badly that jades favorite shorts just got ruined. (When someone is an accident they don’t want to move them and so they cut off their clothes). They also asked if I wanted to ride in the ambulance with them. I of course answered “Yes”, but I have a 7 year old at home that I need to run and get, so I will just follow the ambulance to the hospital”. I ran and hopped in my car and hadn’t made it more than a block when I saw Matt and Rebecca and they asked me what I was doing….I told them I was going to get Ethan so we could follow the ambulance. Rebecca said…"No you’re not…you’re going to drive your car to our house and Matt will take you back to the ambulance and I will go and get Ethan and he can hang out with us and we’ll take him to the game tonight”.

So, that is what I did…I parked my car, hopped in Matt’s car and got back to the ambulance just in time to get to ride with Jade. They wouldn’t let me ride in back with him so I rode in the front.

The 20 minute ride to the hospital seemed like an hour. We arrived at the hospital shortly before 4:00. It was SO nice to get to a room and to actually get to see and talk to Jade. He was doing amazingly well, considering he had just got hit by a motorcycle going 50 MPH. (I’m sure the morphine they gave him in the ambulance was helping matters as well). It broke my heart that Jades first words to me after we got in the room were: “Mom…I didn’t look and I thought he would slow down”. It broke my heart that he was honest! I just held his hand tight and told him that everything was going to be okay and that he was SO lucky that he was wearing a helmet.

His left leg was really bothering him and his ankle was swollen badly and tripled in size. He also had large scrapes on his back and a big chunk taken out of his left calf and a really bad scrape on his right foot.

They got him comfortable and proceeded to draw blood, gave him a Tetanus shot and also X-Rayed his foot as they thought it might be broken considering how much swelling there was.

I was able to meet the mom, wife and mother in law of the man driving the motorcycle and also got to see him as well. He was SO nice and his biggest concern was that Jade was okay.

The motorcyclist was a HERO!! He definitely did some quick thinking on his feet. Since Jade pulled out in front of him he knew that if he and Jade hit head on they probably wouldn’t make it and so he “laid his bike down” and hit Jade from below and flipped Jade over the top of him. This quick move of his is really what saved both of their lives!! (and the fact that they were wearing their helmets).

(the only help I could give Jade was to wipe blood off his fingers and hold his hands)

So, around 5:30 Tracy arrived at the hospital and we waited and waited until we got the test results back. Jade had been all that time in the hot sun and it was now almost 4-1/2 hours since the wreck and Jade was SO thirsty, but wasn’t able to have a drink until we got the test results back. I really felt helpless and it made me feel SO bad to not even be able to give him a drink of water! The only relief I could provide was I was able to clean up his hands a bit and he just wanted me to hold his hand.

(this is what Jades legs looked like when Tracy arrived at the hospital)
Around 8:00 the doctor finally came in and we got the results that Jade just had a really bad Sprained ankle and NO broken bones. Just as we were getting our test results back the motorcyclist Ross got his test results back. They initially assumed that he had broken his collarbone because his shoulder area was so swollen and possibly his hip. But, he only had a torn pectoral muscle that was bleeding inside and that is why his shoulder/chest area was swollen. Because he was wearing shorts and flip flops his knee was ground down to the bone the size of about a quarter and also his toe was ground down to the bone as well. I am still AMAZED that neither of them suffered from any broken bones!

They just stitched Ross’s knee and Jade’s calf up and then by 9:45 that night we were released and sent home.

(this is what Jades legs looked like the day after the accident)

Tracy and I have counted our blessings daily this past week that we were SO lucky to have our son here with us and that the motorcyclist was okay as well because it could have been SO much worse (spinal cord injury, really bad broken leg, or worse yet, planning a funeral).

(more leg photos while Tracy was changing his dressings)

Life can change SO quickly…..I had just told Jade goodbye and to have a great bike ride and wear his helmet and then just 20 minutes later, was looking at him lying on the ground with the motorcyclist wondering if he was going to be okay.

Live each moment as if it could be your last and always make sure to treat others with kindness as those may be the last words they hear from you! That is a testimony that I experienced very well today!!

I am still amazed out how all of the people in our little community just took Ethan and tended him through all of this and we got phone call after phone call and people and friends stopping by with goodies. Jade is a VERY loved young man has so many people that care about him!

(Jade was pretty out of it and in a lot of pain on Friday...he spent the whole day lying on the sofa not able to do much of anything.)
GRATITUDE to have a freezer with an ice-maker!! Every 2 hours we were filling up an ice bag to put on Jades foot as the cold ice is what provided the greatest amount of relief to him. (we actually had to fill bags with ice until July 22nd as it was still bothering him).

Jade struggled greatly to walk and so we pulled one of our computer chairs and pushed him in it to use the bathroom all day Friday.

(Jade is thrilled that Tracy was able to fix his shorts and he is also excited that we were going for a pretty drive...he had cabin fever pretty bad)

Saturday, he decided he had cabin fever and so we took him on a little drive through Driggs, Victor and Swan Valley along the Teton Scenic Vists and took him to a second hand outdoor clothing store which he loved. We got square ice cream cones and had a picnic. Poor Jade just laid down the whole trip, but it felt good for him to get some fresh air and see some pretty scenery.

(enjoying some salad on our picnic)

(Tracy redoing the wrap on Jades leg...Jade is quite tired and after eating just wanted to lay on the bench, however, even though it was hard to walk he was determined he was going to walk to the bathroom by himself)

Tracy, being the fix it man that he is took Jades wrecked bike and a bike that we had in our storage shed and put them together to make 1 working bike so that Jade has a bike to ride with us when we go on our family bike rides. Since this bike doesn’t shift too well, Jade rides my bike when he goes out on bike rides by himself.

(Tracy couldn't think of letting the doctor take out the stitches)

2 weeks later Jade still has really bad scabs, bruises and just a little bit of swelling. However, we went on our first family bike ride in 2 weeks and also went and hiked around some caves/lava tubes in our area and he did amazingly well. He’s really worried he is not going to be able to run cross country this fall, but we are crossing our fingers and hoping that everything works out for this to happen.

Words cannot express the gratitude in my heart that I feel for having two healthy, happy children that I get to enjoy everyday!! I am cherishing every moment I get with them!!

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FUNNY side note:
Tracy always like to play doctor (he actually was microbiology major in college and was planning on a career in the medical field) and so anytime someone gets hurt he is the one that takes care of them with changing dressings, taking out stitches, etc.... Here he is in 2002 "stitching up" Jades arm when he cut it on a boating trip.