My Man

Kevin amazes me.

He is the kind of person that knows about everything. I don't know where or how or when he learned it all, but he did.
Here are some examples:
1. Most people can get on a waverunner and drive it around a lake. They know how to turn it on, and how to drive it around. Kevin knows all kinds of details about how you should drive it in order to take good care of the engine. If the motor starts making a particular sound he can tell you what's wrong with it by the sound alone (besides the fact that he could pull the thing apart and most likely fix it on his own).
2. Most people can replace an outlet cover in their house. Kevin can replace all of the wiring from the outlet into the attic, then down to the fusebox in the basement.
3. My sister's car got flooded with water in a big storm we had last week. She gets on the phone with Dad to ask what to do. I stand around Kevin asking what I can do. Kevin immediately goes for a wet/dry vac, scoops the standing water out of the car, pulls out the mats, and sets up fans to blow on it all night. (This one seems like common sense, and yet he just always knows what to do...).
4. At the demolition derby he can look down (from the top of the stands) at all those beat up crazy painted cars and tell me what model and year they all are. If one starts smoking from the engine he leans over to me and says, "He blew his head gasket." He knows why they have really small wheels on the back tires (to help them cut into the mud). Who knows all that?

These are just a couple examples of things that happen everyday. People are always asking for his help or opinion. It makes me so proud of him. How beautiful it is to be married to someone who I can admire and be so proud that I am his wife.

Family

Family can be so much fun. Who else can you act like this with? (Eric, Ang, and Gabe were here from Thailand the last couple weeks. Their plane leaves today to take them "home," and we wish them safe travels, and a little silliness to take home with them.) 

Sick

Last week Elinore came down with a mild case of pneumonia. It started out as a cold and quickly developed into a cough and fever. Once the fever started I took her to the doctor's office to discover that she was just developing pneumonia in her right lung. You could tell she didn't feel good, but she wasn't acting really sick, so I hadn't been all that worried. After about 48 hours on the antibiotics she was getting back to her normal self again. On Sunday morning I was playing with her and she started giggling. It was so great!! I realized that she hadn't laughed since she had started with her cold. What a sweet sound.

I was talking with my sister-in-law (Ang), who is a nurse, and found out that pneumonia isn't something that just goes away on its own. That is why it can be so serious with babies and elderly people. I thought about "back in the day" when families would have 10 kids and expect that 3 or so of them would die before reaching adulthood. There are natural things you can do that can help to treat it, but without antibiotics... If we had lived back then our baby might very well have died. It made me so very grateful for the advancements in medicine that we have now.  

Lessons

We just got back from a week in Colorado with my family. Our trip consisted of everything from intense hiking from which we all ached for days to lots of laughter around a little game called Farkel. It was sad to leave and come back to a world where I have to compete for Kevin's attention (against things like the internet and his cell phone and the World Cup). I understand why people go on vacation. It is so nice to get away sometimes. Elinore logged some serious hours in the backpack and enjoyed it for the most part. She did awesome! During the week her top two teeth broke through the gums, she learned how to clap, and she learned how to wave. I don't think she quite gets the idea...she waves at everything from people to cars to walls...and it's not just a flopping arm, it's totally a Miss America wave!

I have two thoughts for the moment:

1. You really don't know people. As we boarded the plane on the way home we walked through first class. Cynical me is walking by looking at all these people talking on their cell phones. I look at Elinore and she is waving at the man we're standing beside. He is talking on his cell phone, but suddenly looks up and sees her. His face broke into this huge grin and he started babbling to her and playing peek-a-boo. She reached out to touch his hand. "She's about 8 months?" he asked. "Wow," I replied, "Good guess!". "She just made my day," he said. It was like a shock back to reality. It made me so happy to see this business man on his cell phone scheduling his week suddenly change his entire manner not caring how silly he looked. There I was judging all of these people with their overpacked lives and technology leaking out of their eyeballs, and Elinore was innocently smiling and waving to all. How humbling to learn a lesson from my little 8-month old. Yarin (her middle name) - to understand.

2. I have a newfound understanding and grace for the "screaming baby on the plane". There was a moment when Elinore was sitting on my lap just crying. Kevin was rooting through the bag for the pacifier, and I thought, "On no, I have the screaming baby on the plane." It only lasted for about 2 minutes, but those of you with kids know how the two minutes can feel like the entire plane ride. The thing is, she is SUCH a good baby. Crying is so rare for her. Those of you who know her, know I'm not exaggerating. She hadn't napped all day because of the travelling, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. So now I know. The screaming baby isn't necessarily a bad/awnry/loud kid. It's just a kid that's hungry/sleep-deprived/stressed out. I'm sure some of them are the first kind of kid, but I'll feel compassion for them anyway since I won't be able to tell the difference. Poor kids.