Stay Still Or I'll Slap You

I haven't mentioned it on my blog, but Greg had surgery on Monday.  He did something to his rotator cuff and had what is called a SLAP tear.  I'm not sure if he was in denial, or what, but he was under the impression he was going to have surgery and be back to normal the next day.

In fact, he had surgery, came home for a couple hours and took a nap, woke up, then went out to lunch with Jerry's dad.  I was actually working and had no idea he wasn't home until I saw Jerry's dad dropping him off in our driveway.  Then he refused to take any pain pills because he said he was fine.

He had a follow-up appointment with the surgeon on Tuesday and he informed him the tear was two inches long and he'd have to wear his arm in a sling for six weeks.

I think he was in complete denial until he heard six weeks.  He can't sit still for six minutes, much less six weeks.

His mother said, "You have to make him take pain pills, Michele.  You have to make him keep that arm still for six weeks."

After 23 years, I know my limits.  I might be able to keep him down for 1 week.  He already went to DMV to register our motor home because he said he can't sit here for six weeks.  My friend Brian suggested he go live inside the motor home.  He said I should lock him in there during the day and let him out when the children come home.

He was telling me how to load the dishwasher yesterday, and today he watched me making 78 Valentine's Day bags for the children's classroom parties and commented about it the whole time. Then he watched me leave and return from the Dollar Store three times.  The first time I went, I bought Valentine's Day cards for the children at school, who are either too poor or whose parents are too lazy to get them any.  The second time I went, I needed 8 more gift bags to complete my 78 gift bags.  The third time I went, was because when I went back to school to hand out the cards to the kids who didn't have any, then three more girls said their parents wouldn't have cards for them.

"When we run out of money and are poor, it will be because your mother spent it all on Valentine's Day cards.", he told the children at dinner.

Normally he has no idea what I'm up to, which works well for me, ya know?

In addition to having Valentine's Day parties tomorrow, the kid are also participating in Jump Rope For Heart.  I just cannot say enough good things about this program.  Or maybe it's our P.E. teacher that makes it so great for the kids, since she gets as many kids involved in jumping as possible at our school.  Talk about great exercise!

Greg's mom met me at one of the schools they were jumping at a couple weeks ago and she was impressed!

I shared this video on Facebook and the kids raised $915 for the American Heart Association!!!!  Our P.E. teacher was so surprised, she couldn't believe it!  So to all my friends, relatives, internet stalkers, you rock!  Wow!  You have no idea how much that means to our little school!



Gregory and Amanda jumped at an assembly at our own school last week and the representative from the American Heart Association called them up to the stage as Sarah Austin, Amanda Austin, and Gregory Austin, which serves them right for being so mean to their poor baby brother in the video.

The representative said, "And now let me introduce our heavy hitters, Sarah Austin, Amanda Austin, and Gregory Austin."

And Austin said, "WHAT ABOUT ME?"

I was moved to tears during that assembly because one of our former students spoke in memory of his dad.  He went to our school all six years and was on the traveling jump team.  His father passed away over the summer from a heart attack and he gave a moving tribute and plea for the kids to eat healthy and not smoke.  This is the second parent to die from a heart attack at our school since we've been going there.  These were not old people.  They were relatively young men.  I was bawling when the boy was speaking.

There are many worse things than having your arm in a sling for six weeks, isn't there?  I'll have to keep that in perspective when Greg starts commenting on the way I vacuum or how much water I'm using while he's here rehabilitating for six weeks.

On that note, may you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day, or Happy Letter Exchange Day if you will! If anyone's looking for me, I'll be spending Greg's retirement on Valentine's for the disenfranchised.