The day my lip fell off.

I again might have written about this before but I can't find it and since part of the reason I want to write this blog is so that I will remember these stories when I get old I will just write it again and maybe I will tell it a little different or come up with another moral to the story therefore I give you...The day my lip fell off, by Erika

I was twelve years old.  I know this because I had just gotten a brand new 10 speed bike for my birthday.  It was in the summer between my 6th and 7th grade years in school and I had decided to leave my parents neighborhood to go for a bike ride.  I felt so free, so mature, in retrospect SO STUPID!!! My parents still live in the house I grew up in, there is no where good to ride a bike anywhere around there but in my parents neighborhood.

I had gone down a short road to the first turn and turned left.  There was gravel in the turn and my wheels slid on it.  I lost control, went off the road , face planted into a tree, and landed in a creek that was pretty deep.  I looked around the muddy walls and noticed the very large amount of what I assumed to be snake holes.  I kept sliding down and finally had to claw my way out leaving my bike behind.

I walked up to a house that I had been going to all summer.  The woman of the house was having chemo treatments and my mother was taking her, therefore I was taking her.  I tell you this because she should know me, but when I rang the doorbell that day she did not know me only I didn't know why.  I knew I had hurt myself.  I thought there was something wrong with my teeth, and I'm sure I noticed blood but I thought for sure she would be able to know it was me.  She yelled for her husband to come see this little girl, and then I tried to talk.

My nabe ith ehwikuh and I said that over and over.  She just kept asking her husband what on earth they were going to do and patting my bloody face with dry paper towels.  As she was doing that she said look how beautiful her black hair is!  The only person I every knew with hair as black as that was Jim Pierson and I pointed to her.  She then screamed IT'S ERIKA!!!!

My parents were there pretty quickly thereafter.  My mother couldn't look at me.  She drove the car and my father sat in the back seat holding my head.  I remember my mother telling my father that we were out of gas and he just yelled at her to drive faster.  We got to Children's hospital and they immediately took me back.  Probably because they didn't want me scaring the other patients but again I didn't know that at this point.

Hours in to this ordeal I asked to go to the bathroom and finally got to look in a mirror. It was bad.  There are no pictures of it because my mother didn't want me to remember the trauma.  It's one of the reasons that I take so many pictures for my kids today.  I would love to go back and see what it looked like, how bad it was.

The surgeon lost track of how many stitches were in my face at 100.  They had to completely reattach my upper lip.  There was a gash next to my eye that had it been any closer I would have been blind, a large cut at my jaw line that they thought they were going to have to sew my jaw shut for but it miraculously was not as bad as they had first expected.  A cut at my neck that was uncomfortably close to my jugular.  It goes without saying that I am lucky to be alive.

The old man whose house I had walked to after the wreck had gone down and gotten my bike and he told my dad it was a total loss.  My father went to go pick it up, but was confused because it didn't look that bad.  The older gentleman had never seen bike handlebars that looked like rams horns before.  I spent the summer having dental work done, and going to doctors appointments.  It is most definitely a strong memory that only left behind a few barely noticeable scars.

It's funny how even the hardest most uncomfortable scars from life lessons eventually fade and are covered up by the millions of memories that come with living our life.  Do not allow the negative things that happen to you in your life define you.  Focus on the positive, the beautiful.

Go out...Be kind.

Starburst.

A friend of mine recently was was in a conversation and I was eavesdropping on Facebook.  Her friend had posted a picture of a mug that said Don't be a yellow starburst.  Now.  Apparently my friend's favorite starburst is the yellow so she went into a discussion about how she prefers the yellow and the mug was not accurate so of course it got me to thinking.

I had to pick up my daughter about 30 min away from my house and I had funk breath.  The only thing that was in the car that was viable for breath support was a pack of Starburst minis leftover from Halloween.  No, I hadn't cleaned out my car in awhile and yes...I'm glad I hadn't no one wants to meet and greet with funk breath.....I'm off topic.

I started with the red ones because they are my personal favorite.  I then ate the pink ones as is customary because the red and pink are in my opinion the best ones.  I decided this time however to try the yellow and the orange.  I started with yellow.  Not bad.  I then tried orange.  Nope.  Not ever gonna like the orange, and therein is my topic for today's post.

It doesn't matter a hill of beans that I don't like the orange or that the yellow isn't my favorite it doesn't mean I am better because I like the red ones it just means I like something different and if you ask me it works out better this way because we can each have the flavor we like without stepping on any toes.  I decided that she and her friend along with me and some freak (and by freak I of course mean totally normal individual who has the right to like whatever they want!) that likes orange would make the perfect team!

Do not assume because someone likes things that you don't that this factor makes them wrong.  It just makes them different.  It's ok to be different.  Turkey for dinner is nice. Turkey by itself every night for dinner gets old.  Celebrate the differences that others have.  Enjoy the variety.  Go out....Be kind.

Grandpa

My mother's father was a preacher, a woodworker, a gardener, an animal lover, a genuinely all around good guy.  He lived in Michigan so I didn't get to see him that often.  My grandpa had a saying that my mother would repeat quite often and its a good one so I wanted to pass it along.

There's so much bad in the best of us and so much good in the worst of us that it hardly behooves any of us to speak ill of the rest of us.

I was driving in traffic the other day and a car pulled out in front of another car.  There truly wasn't enough time for them to pull out but it wasn't wreck worthy.  There was plenty of stopping time, but the car that was already in the road laid on his horn, gave the middle finger salute and floored it to get around the person and berate them some more.

My first thought was, yes that person shouldn't have pulled out then, but then I remembered something.  I had tried to pull out in that very same spot recently and it is completely blind.  You can't see what's coming around the corner, so probably the person was just hoping for the best and took a chance.

The thing is the driver that blew his horn, flipped off and yelled at the offender has now created a bigger problem.  They have elevated their blood pressure and will now drive more aggressively.  They have upset the offender who was probably already nervous about pulling out, and people are now thinking negatively rather than positively.  Whereas had the person just slowed down a little and then passed when safe it would have been a non issue.

I absolutely love it when someone freaks out and speeds past you only to meet up with you at the next stop light.  We all want to get where we are going.  We all have stuff going on.  If everyone would just calm down and drive not only defensively but also intentionally and not selfishly we would all get there faster because there wouldn't be as many wrecks to deal with.  Oh and GET OFF YOUR STUPID PHONE!!!

My grandpa's saying works in so many different ways.  Pretty much any situation of drama that you are met with, it applies.  Just remember mercy and grace.  You like it when it is given to you, therefore why are you not so generous with it toward other people.

Go out....Be kind.

The day my mom set the cat on fire.

I have probably already written a blog entry about this but I can't find it so I am just going to write another one. Just in case some animal rights activist is wanting to attack my mother A. She had the best intentions.  B. I'm pretty sure the statute of limitations is up because this was a really really long time ago.

Growing up my family had a cat named Krinkles, more so Krinkles had us.  He was a very regal orange and white cat that looked exactly like a cat named Morris that had a commercial that he was popular for.

Krinkles came home one day with 3 ticks on his neck.  My mother had read in a magazine that if you would put rubbing alcohol on the ticks they would pop off.  It didn't work and after several attempts she gave up and went back to the article to see what else she should try.  She read that if you light a match and put it to the tick they would let go and back out so as not to leave their head stuck inside the cat.  So my mother ran off to try this technique not reading that you need to blow out the match first.

So, when the lit match and the alcohol that was still on the cats fur touched of course the cat burst into flames...in the garage...on fire....in a garage...where there are other flammable type items. So mom opened the door to the garage and off the cat flew up through the neighbors yards burning all the way....

Now.  If I stopped there this would be a horrible story.  It's not really I promise please continue.

My father was at work that day in a board meeting.  He had told his secretary Trish to not put any calls through to interrupt the meeting but when she heard the panic in my mother's voice she sent her through anyway.  So my father listened to her dilemma and then in front of the board yelled "You set the cat on fire?  WELL PUT HIM OUT!!!"

Meanwhile my sisters and I had come home from school and I guess Krinkles felt that since we were home he had witnesses and could return as well.  The alcohol is the only thing that really burned.  His fur was a little crispy but for the most part he was untouched.  More importantly the three ticks were still in tact.

My mother has had this story told at her expense on many occasions.  I have even had people come up and tell me that they have heard the story before and that its not true.  Oh but it is.  I lived it.  Krinkles never quite looked at my mother the same ever again.

So that's the story of my mother and how she once set a cat on fire.

Did you send a thank you note for your skin?

I'm human. 


I am not perfect.


So, sometimes I get my feelings hurt over stupid stuff. 


Recently I helped 2 other women throw a little party for a 4th friend.  I did not go in to this wanting to be recognized.  I did it because I wanted the woman to feel loved and celebrated.  I would much rather do things anonymously than wave my hands wide and receive the credit.  I have been on the side of having a special day forgotten.  It isn't fun.  I don't ever want someone I love to feel that way.  So, I helped throw a little something together and that was it for me....until.....


A 5th person took credit for it, and then it all changed.   I showed it to my daughter as a life lesson for her to know that sometimes these things happen and while they are not right they happen and its no big deal...I told my daughter that but I was still annoyed until a little verse popped up in my head.


James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.


and then I was humbled. 


How many times does God give me a beautiful gift that I take credit for?  How many times does he bless me over and over again and do I remember to recognize that he was the creator of all that is good?  Do I thank him for every single gift he gives me in a day?  No!  I do not!  How very justified he is to just stop blessing me because I do not adequately express my appreciation.  I am very thankful that he is not like me.  I can only hope to try to be like him. 


Does it still annoy me that the 5th person did what they did?  Yes, but again, I'm human. 


Am I going to look at situations such as this differently now?  Absolutely.  You can not even begin to thank the Lord for every little thing he gives you in a day.  Oxygen for instance.  Skin.  Did you thank God for your skin today?  Things that we don't even think about because they are just assumed. 


God is good all the time.  Go out...Be kind.