Moments

Scary Baby scares herself…

Monday, January 28, 2008 By Sherra

Scary Baby has always been good at finding ways to occupy herself. On this day two years ago, we were all inside when we heard an ear-piercing scream in the backyard. By the time Roger Leroy had flung the deck door open to see what was happening, Scary Baby had made it around to the front porch. She was banging on the front door screaming, “I’M BLIND, I’M BLIND.” We opened the door to see this (except she had clothes on and her eyes were shut)…

This is what happens when you beat a can of spray paint with a rake.

PhilBillPaul yelled at Wizzy to go to the basement and get PAINT THINNER.

Sometimes our loved ones do not think clearly when faced with an emergency. PAINT THINNER???

I scooped up Scary Baby and ran upstairs with her and put in her in the bathtub while trying to calm her screaming and saying, “Keep your eyes closed tight and I’m going to rinse them with water. It’s going to be okay…”

Meanwhile, Roger Leroy had gone to the backyard and recovered the evidence–one very dented can of spray paint and a garden rake.

I’m not bragging here but I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you that…poison control said flushing with water was the right move and did not recommend using PAINT THINNER on her skin or hair.

Paint residue remained in her hair for several weeks.

I’m very happy to report her eyesight was not damaged.

Life Lesson (LL):Cans of spray paint, rakes and unsupervised children don’t mix well.

Share a Life Lesson (SALL):Any good stories you can share about leaving a child unsupervised so I can feel better about my slacker mom skills?

Weather Alert: Georgia Blizzard!

Thursday, January 17, 2008 By Sherra

Snow HIT Georgia last night in case you didn’t see this National News Story. Thankfully, my daughters took some pictures.

Since I grew up in the Midwest, I don’t really freak out when it snows. But I respect the fact that it is an exciting time for people who see snow just a few times in their life. I think it’s a marvelous thing for kids to experience.

Sometimes I even get a little sad thinking my kids have missed some really great winter activities like sledding, skiing and snowmobiling.

As you can see, we got a a really, thick blanket of snow. I wish I had a picture of my 8 year-old standing in the street with an umbrella watching the snow fall for two hours freezing but full of glee.

The 11:00 news story made me laugh. I know these kinds of interviews are what gives the South a bad name. You know what I mean, as if people in the south aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed…

They actually interviewed a grown man and a 17 year-old boy who described how he made a snowman. It went something like this and you’ll have to insert your own twang while reading:

I started with a small snowball and then I started rollin’ it all over the yard and it just kept gitin’ bigger and bigger then I made another one and another one. Then I went inside and got him a hat.

Then they showed his creation which I’m sure was a very proud moment for him and his maw and paw.

You might think I’m makin’ fun. But I can’t. Not really. Because then my 16 year-old twin daughters came in and showed me this picture of their very own creation.

Enough said.

I am a severe head injury survivor

Tuesday, January 8, 2008 By Sherra

“I’m not the ‘me’ I used to know.”

That sentence sums up for me how I’ve felt since I woke up from a coma in June 1988.

The quote is from another traumatic brain injury survivor. I have since lost that little scrap of paper I carried around in my wallet for many years.

In one moment my world was turned upside down.

We were hit head-on by a drunk driver. I was driving and the most seriously injured. I was airlifted to Bayfront Medical Center and was in a coma for eleven days.

Something happens when you have been to the edge of death and have been given a second chance at life.

Phillip and I had been married just seven short months and we lived in Tampa, Florida. The crash happened on Friday night, Memorial Day weekend at about 11:30 pm on our way home from Clearwater to Tampa. I was driving. Phillip was in the passenger seat. An old friend and my roommate before we got married was in the backseat. We had actually driven over to Clearwater to feed her boss’s dogs. I volunteered to drive as they were both tired from a long week of work.

We never made it home.

I have always known that if I had not been wearing a seat belt, I would have died that night. (Airbags or automatic seat belts did not become mandatory in passenger vehicles until the next year.)

Phillip was the only one who was able to get out of the car and get help. The drunk driver had crossed the center line and I took the brunt of the impact. A two lane highway with water on the right side. No one could have driven out of it. It took me many years to really understand that.

My friend was trapped in the backseat with a crushed hip. I had grand mal seizures and I stopped breathing on the helicopter. I was put on a ventilator at the hospital and the next night, my heart stopped beating.

Believe me when I say it is a miracle that I am typing this today. That I can walk and talk is nothing I take for granted.

I’ve lost count of the life lessons I’ve learned from this experience.

Maybe, in the coming weeks, I’ll start by sharing the things I did in the hospital when I woke up. Let’s just say I was very, very busy…

It will be 20 years on May 27, 2008.

It is a date we will never forget.

It is an anniversary we do not celebrate.

It is our life and the people we love that we treasure…