On my mom's 60th birthday

This month my mom turned 60. She was visiting here and we had an extra special birthday celebration. I hear there was awesome celebrating back home too. To start out our celebrating here, Blake, Bonnie, and I cooked dinner. Bonnie helped by being the entertainment while everything was cooking. On the menu: bacon wrapped turkey meatloaf with fennel, angel hair pasta with mizythra cheese and browned butter sauce, roasted broccoli, tossed salad, and lemon meringue pie. We made everything from scratch (except the pasta) from the pie crust to the bread crumbs in the meatloaf. I don't mind saying, it was pretty delicious.

These are not the first pictures we've ever taken featuring me, my mother, and a lemon meringue pie. They're probably not the last either.

Next was the presentation of the gift. Six weeks or so before the birthday celebration I covertly contacted friends and family members asking them to send a written memory of my mom. The idea was to collect one memory for each of 60 envelopes representing the years of my mom's life so far. The response was overwhelming. I got way more than 60, probably closer to 90. They just kept rolling in. (Mom, I've got another stack for you that came in since you were here.) Here's what my living room floor looked like the night before the celebration:

Blake used his awesome calligraphy skills to hand-number each envelope. They were beautiful.

My mom was a little confused as to what kind of a gift comes in a stack of envelopes and why we were so insistent about documenting the presentation. (I told all those who participated to watch for a blog post about it so they could see her reaction and participate vicariously in the surprise.)

She was overwhelmed. She didn't make it through the first card (not even to the numbered envelopes yet) explaining what the project was about before she started to get choked up. I think it was very meaningful to her that so many people would participate in this. I had siblings, nieces, nephews, coworkers, childhood friends, neighbors, cousins, former students represented.

In typical our-family fashion, there were a few moments of seriousness and lots and lots of laughs.

Happy Birthday Mama! I love you!

(And a big thanks to everyone who supported this effort and who helped keep the secret.)

On being sick without health insurance

Since funemployment began we have not had health insurance. We're generally pretty healthy people, so this hasn't been too big of a hassle. About a month ago I started getting sick. It was the day we took my brother to Disneyland to celebrate his birthday and Bonnie's birthday. Even when I woke up knowing I was coming down with something, it wasn't exactly the time to just say "Oops, I'm not going." So, we went and still had a good time. Bonnie was feeling a little under the weather as well, so she was pretty docile all day (which really wasn't so bad, if I'm being honest about it). I was pretty much ready to go home by dinner time, but we couldn't leave Disneyland early, especially when Ben only had one day there. By the time 11:00 rolled around, I was past done. Bonnie had slept for several hours after dinner and then woke up. So, Blake and Ben took her on some rides while I crouched in fetal position next to Pinocchio and fell asleep on my arms. It was . . . something.

My condition progressively worsened over the next week: feverish chills, congestion, painful pressure in my ears, glands so swollen they hurt from my jaw bone around to the back of my neck. And then, about a week into this, it moved to my eye. I was waiting in the jury selection room at the courthouse (I got called in for jury duty. That's another story. The long and short of it is that the lawyers settled but not after making us all miss work.), and my vision started clouding periodically in my right eye. I blinked it off. The cloudiness was getting worse and worse til I checked a mirror and pulled some mucus goo out of my eye. At this point I knew it was time to see a doctor.

So, I spent some time that evening researching low cost medical clinics for the uninsured. It's a good thing I did too, because the next morning my right eye was glued shut with a mountain (seriously, the size of a peanut M&M) of dried goo. I could feel that the infection had moved to my left eye. Sure enough, on closer inspection, there was a little trail on my face where the goo from my right eye had spilled over the bridge of my nose (I sleep on my side usually) and leaked down into my left eye. It was completely disgusting. I kind of wish I had taken a picture of my nasty self.

I made sure I was at the clinic nearest our house when it opened. I was the first walk-in of the day. I still had to wait an hour to be seen by a doctor. And what an experience that was! I don't think the doctor listened to a single word out of my mouth. She checked my ears: quick look in the right, then move to the left and jammed that ear lookey thing into my ear so hard and fast that I cried out in pain. It was one of those involuntary reactions. The pain was so bad it made me cry, and I'm no wimp. The doctor didn't say anything. No apology. Nothing. She just stood there looking at me while I tried to stop the tears and then said, "Can I look in your ear now?" She asked if I had seasonal allergies. I don't. When I left, I had 5 different prescriptions, 3 of them for allergies. I only filled two, the oral antibiotic and the antibiotic eye gel I get to squish IN MY EYE! (Eeeew! Eyes give me the screaming habdabs.) The whole thing was quite the experience.

I realize these are the complaints of a highly privileged, first world person. I am so grateful that the sickness was relatively minor. It could have been so much worse. I am grateful that I have access to health care and that there are clinics that provide income-based services (my visit cost me $15). I am grateful for the local pharmacy that offered me a reasonable cash price for the medications. I'm extra grateful that I don't have pressure in my ears and that the eye gel cleared up my gross goo. I finished out my whole course of antibiotics like a good girl. All seemed well.

I was telling Blake that I could still feel a little sinus pressure and was afraid the infection hadn't totally gone away. Then yesterday morning I woke up with a familiar feeling in my left eye. I just knew the goo was back. Careful inspection revealed that I was right. Luckily, I still have plenty of eye gel left over, so I've started that back up again. The best part of it all is that I started working full-time on Thursday, am therefore eligible for benefits, and our new health insurance goes into effect today. *giant sigh of relief*