Six Degrees of Seperation...

So I have been at an NCCAT Seminar this week, otherwise known as 'vacation' according to my dear husband Jay AND my 'school' husband Matt! Well, it has certainly been anything but (sorta lol) - although it HAS been tremendously enjoyable. I certainly would NOT suggest this particular seminar to just anyone, it is called Everyone Needs a Little Mystery: CSI in the Classroom.

On one hand, being at NCCAT IS like being on vacation...we are 'housed' in dorms that are like hotels. We have our own rooms, with a commons area on the floor. The commons area is like a living room (couches and rocking chairs) it's the evening 'circle-time' hang out place and it has a kitchen attached that is fully stocked - coffee, drinks, snacks, etc. There is a 24-hour computer lab and fitness center (yeah right LOL) and we get three meals a day that are simply AMAZING! Seriously - I would come back just for the food...especially the desserts YUM!

But NONE of that is even the best part - we had several different presenters / teachers throughout the week including a local booksellar, and the Destiny Lab from Moorehead Planetarium. BUT...our MAIN teachers this week were world-renowned forensic anthropologist Dr. Bill Bass and nationally known fingerprint expert Art Bohanan. These men are inovators in their fields - forensic heros, if you will, of mine! You may have heard of Dr. Bill Bass' research facility in Tennessee - the 'body farm' or of the fingerprinting technique using superglue that was patented by Art Bohanan. OMG - to have spent the week learning from them has been simply amazing. We have gathered and analyzed fingerprints, analyzed handwriting samples, created a mold of our footprint, gathered and identified maggots (and other insects) from a corpse, learned how to test for blood, learned how to identify different bones (and age, sex, race from bones) and did DNA fingerprinting. In the end we solved a crime by using all of our new knowledge...

I met some other great, fun, amazing ladies this week too. I know we will be in touch for years - you have to wait 3 years before coming back to an NCCAT seminar. We are already planning a reunion for July 2012 - next time we are meeting at the Ocracoke campus...

Moving Forward...

I took some steps today - back, but forward. Back into the swing of our old lives, so I / we can start moving forward again. I am making myself type this with a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes, because it's time. I reread one of my favorite quotes today..."Always be kind, for everyone is fighting a hard battle." --Plato It is SO true of so many of my close friends yet they are the kindest people I know. This Blog was my New Year's Resolution - but then I just couldn't. There were more important things to do. Trips to the hospital, to rehab, therapy, healing - I just couldn't. Now I have come to realize that I have to - because life will never be the same, she will never be the same, I will never be the same...and I need to share some of those things. I'm still not used to not being able to call her all day long - it's hard during the summer. I used to call her before I was even out of bed most of the time. I still find it hard just to get out of the bed sometimes...I'm not being melodramatic - it's just that I think life has changed the most (most dramatically) for her and for me, and it is still a shock to my system at times.

So about today - we took some steps back into the swing of our old lives and the kids and I went to youth group...had a little Madness fun. It was just what we needed - to be surrounded by our friends and great kids. These are a bunch of people who have loved our crazy kids since before the existed - and love them even more when they do REALLY crazy things like pee in their shorts! And I needed to see that there's a part of my life that is marching forward, that IS staying the same. And that's the love and support of our Awesome friends!

Nightmare

So I thought that all of the deaths I (we) had suffered this past year had been horrible, with some of them being somewhat expected and some of them being sudden. With the ages ranging from a young girl of 8 years old to the ripe old age of 89 years old, these losses all rocked our world on one level or another. But not one of them ROCKED me like I was ROCKED on Monday, January 5, 2009.

My mom went in for a routine heart catheteration. Based on the results she may have needed a ballooning procedure or a stint. Unfortunately during the heart cath procedure, she SUFFERED A STROKE!! So a quick 1/2 hr procedure turned into HOURS of waiting for me. After hearing NOTHING for hours, I texted my dad, then called him. He then told me the news. I immediately left my school, called Jay, drove to his school to pick him up (so he could drive me - thank goodness it is close, because I was in NO state to drive!) We drove straight to the hospital and by the time we got there, mom had been stabilized in the CICU. She was sedated, on a ventilator and they had completed all surgeries. They were able to go in and 'clean up' as much as they could in the brain, they were hoping to treat what was left with meds. As far as assessing damage - it was in the left side of her brain, therefore the right side of her body is affected. As well as speech and understanding.

That day, Monday was horrible, horrific, tragic, numbing, there really aren't words...she was trapped within herself. I knew she was in there, I knew she could hear us, but she couldn't respond, talk, could barely squeeze with her GOOD hand. All I could do was tell her it would be okay, that we would get through this...and when I kissed her goodbye / goodnight and told her I'd be back in the morning she nodded her head, ever so slightly. HOPE!

3 days overdue...

One of my 2009 New Years Resolutions was to start (and maintain..lol) a Blog. So here goes... but I'm already behind. Now normally this would cause me to give up, to quit before I even start. I have some issues - I'm sure I will get to them later, but for now this brings me to another resolution....follow through on more tasks that I begin. So my LOFTY goal for my blog is to add something EVERY day....something, even if it is just a picture or a sentence or two about the day. I am using this site on the advice of a very wise, experienced blogger (shout out to my cuz) who tells me I can even update it from my phone...for those of you who know me well - right about now you are going..oh, maybe she CAN do this after all.

I attended yet another funeral / Celebration of Life today, I've HONESTLY lost count for this year, but it was for yet another teenager. I have MUCH to say...but will save it for another day...it's late, or early rather and it's been a long day...