Well my current show is just about ready to wrap up and I have many mixed emotions. With only two more shows left I am partly so sad to say goodbye but partly relieved. This show has made me think about my Mom so very much and part of me loves thinking about her and needs the emotional release but it is also so exhausting. Many nights while I sit there completely trapped inside Barbara (if you saw the show, you would know what I mean) and I just think about her. I have thought a lot about when she was sick but also a lot about when we were growing up. With the holidays right around the corner I keep thinking about my childhood and wishing my Mom was here to spend this season with our family. So one night while sitting on the NOTLD couch I started thinking about how accident prone I used to be. Little Lily has had to go to the hospital twice already in her young life and it was a horrible feeling. I mean the moment you realize a sickness has gotten to the point of needing a hospital trip its just awful so I can't imagine how my Mother must have felt having to take me to the ER so many times. In my case I was constantly breaking bones and hurting myself and I don't know what is worse...being very sick or seeing your child scream with pain after breaking a bone?
When I was very young my very first friend was a boy. My next door neighbor Benjamin and I did everything together. My sister and I also spent a lot of time with our older cousin Jason who lived just down the street. We played outside everyday and I wanted to do everything the boys did.
Also, very important to note that we lived in the woods and there was a gully in my front yard. Actually this gully was more like a small ravine that stretched the length of our front yard as well as 3 other neighbors' yards. I can't even say how deep it was but I can say that riding a sled down that thing was insanely thrilling and always, always had the potential to cause injury..especially when you created a sled jump over a cement drainage tunnel.
After climbing so often and so high I never thought I could get hurt and definitely never thought I could get hurt in a small tree but I did. While climbing a very small tree in Ben's front yard I decided to swing from a branch and for some strange reason got very scared. I mean my feet were only about two or three feet from the ground but I just completely was overwhelmed with fear. I cried and hung there until my fingers ached and couldn't hold me any longer. I dropped to the ground, like I had so many other times from this very tree, but this time I twisted my body on the way down and landed on my hand instead of my feet. Something cracked and I laid there screaming. I was 5 or 6 at the time and I remember this very vividly. My parents rushed for me and took me to the emergency room. This would be the first of many trips.
So I broke my little wrist in two places and had to wear a cast for the summer-which was a nightmare when you are 5 or 6 and have a pool in your back yard. I remember having it wrapped up in a plastic bag, trying to keep my arm above my head, and then using a blow dryer on it after swimming. One fun part about that injury was that I had to learn to color and write with my right hand (I am left handed) and to this day I am slightly ambidextrous.
I remember getting the cast off by first grade and I remember the doctor saying to take it easy because although I may feel fine, my bones and muscles are weak and still not 100%. Um yeah whatever, I thought and I swear a week later ( or maybe even a couple days later) I was swinging on the monkey bars on Ben's swing set next door. He had this swing set with sings on one side, a slide on the other, and monkey bars connecting the two sides. Apparently safety wasn't as important when it came to making swing sets back in the 80's because these monkey bars extremely high off the ground! I got half way across the bars and felt very weak and scared. Again I find myself hanging, crying, fingers aching. I drop to the ground and land on my elbow this time and feel a surge of pain. I grab my arm and stumble down Ben's backyard trying to make it to my yard. I remember seeing my Dad on our back patio and I tried to yell for him. I think I did and then remember collapsing. He carried me inside and laid me on the living room couch. I remember my parents debating what to do. I hurt myself all the time so they weren't sure if this case called for an emergency room trip. After laying on the couch crying and moaning for a couple hours, I think, my parents took me to the hospital again and this time I broke my other arm. I broke my elbow this time and had to wear a cast up to my shoulder. This was just the beginning of years of emergency room trips. We were there so often that I remember my poor Mom saying that they were going to call social services on our family soon!
I went back again for stitches in my forehead after jumping out of the bed of my Dad's pick up truck and falling face first onto the gravel driveway. Another time I twisted my neck while practicing hand stands. Then there was the time I hit a tree while sledding in the backyard and ended up in crutches. There were jammed fingers and twisted ankles from softball and one of the worst was when I chipped all of my front teeth when I was on a family vacation in VA Beach.
It was a total freak accident actually. I was body surfing with my cousin and having a blast. After playing in the waves for most of the day, I caught one really big wave and forgot to put my arms out in front of me. So I am body surfing this wave like a seal and it crashes and it crashes hard. I didn't have my hands in front me to protect myself and my face plants into the hard, solid, packed sand under the water. My jaw hit first and when it slammed down my teeth smashed together and all of my front teeth cracked and chipped. I knew instantly something was very wrong and I pulled myself up out of the water crying and running for our family's beach camp. I literally had pieces of my teeth on my lips and cheeks. My Aunt Rita tried to calm me down and ease my pain and fears but I just couldn't stop crying. She took me to the nearest hotel bathroom so I could see the damage and it was even worse than I expected. I felt like I was looking at the jaws of a shark. My teeth were jagged and angry and they ached. Unfortunately that injury cut our trip short and I had to go to the dentist back home and get my teeth filed down! Filed DOWN! WITHOUT NOVOCAINE! My dentist didn't think I would need it. I was about 10 at the time and it was one of the worst experiences of my life. To this day I have a slight fear of the waves and worry every time I make a dental appt.
I pray my daughter isn't as fearless and wild as I was but the chances are she will end up being just like me.
We have really good insurance thank goodness!!
I don't know how my Mom and Dad got though those years and everything I put them through and that wasn't event the worst of it. As kids get older there are just bigger and more scary ways they can get hurt like car accidents or drug use. No matter what, they were always there for me to wipe my tears or guide me to the right path when I found myself a little lost. I know I was very lucky to have parents that tried very hard to protect me and keep me safe and I plan on doing exactly the same for my daughter...even if it means she hates me a little bit for it. She needs a Mom who knows what's best for her, just like mine did for me.
So one of my very favorite recipes my Mom taught me was for Corned Beef Dip. With the holidays coming, I plan on making a lot of my holiday favorites and sharing those recipes and this one is in my top 5 for sure.
Corned Beef Dip
1 1/3 cup sour cream
1 1/3 cup mayo
2 T Dill Weed
2 T Onion Flakes
2 T Parsley
2 pkg Corned Beef
When I make it I actually add pepper, garlic salt, and I do 4 packs of corned beef. Just get the budding corned beef and dice it up. Mix all the ingredients together and let chill for a few hours. We always served it in a rye bread bowl and used the bread pieces for dipping. Addicting!
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