I just can't wait for.....a tonsillectomy?

Who, besides maybe Heidi Montag, looks forward to surgery? The answer: my crazy son Jack!

He has been going around the house the last 2 weeks singing "I just can't wait till Thursday!" Thursday - the day he gets his ginormous tonsils out.

His tonsils are quite literally the size of golf balls. Paul has taken to calling him the "house elf" lately, given his funny muffled voice. While it's sort of cute, I must admit that I've had trouble understanding him the last couple of months. So, I'm not sure how his teacher and classmates have been able to grasp what he's been saying - what with his "hot potato voice" and Canadian accent. Not that no one understanding him would stop Jack from talking.....

I guess maybe I would be excited too, since the poor kid has been suffering from some serious sleep apnea, snoring that rivals my Grandma Currie's (I had to wear ear muffs when I shared a room with her), and swallowing with what seems like two giant moth balls in his mouth. However, the top reasons he is excited about Thursday are the perks that come as a result. In case you can't understand him in the video, he is looking forward to getting his new Mario pillow, a Yoshi stuffy, eating ice cream, and having his favourite soup (Ichiban). I'm sure the 2 week break from school has nothing to do with his happiness - not!

While Jack is excited about tomorrow, Caitlyn is the exact opposite. Caitlyn, my little mini-worst-case scenario mom, is very worried about her little brother. As a result she has decided that it's her job to let him know just why he's delusional to be happy about it. Initially she believed that the doctors would be cutting slits on either side of his throat, and she shared this theory with Jack! Luckily, that didn't even phase him. She also heard that people who get their tonsils out often lose weight. So this past week she's been like a little Italian grandmother - trying desperately to fatten Jacko up. "Eat Jack!" she says, following him around with extra food. Yesterday she grabbed the anesthesiologist's info sheet off the counter and started reading it, and making notes! I had to take it away from her - she was making me nervous. "Mom," she shouted, "did you know they are going to make Jack unconscious? How is he supposed to breathe?" "Mom, did you read this - make sure you don't give him nurofen!" It's sweet she's so worried about her little brother, but she's scaring me!

We have been so blessed to have such happy, healthy kids. I know getting your tonsil's and adenoids out is a pretty common procedure but it will still be hard to watch them take my little baby into the operating room. But, if Jack can face this with a smile I guess I can fake one!

Love at the Library

Paul and I met at the University of Calgary library. We were studying. Really.

O.k., not really. That's just the story we told his mom and dad. In actuality we met at a bar. A bar called Coconut Joe's. On Electric Avenue. In Calgary. I still have the dress I wore. A little black velvet Esprit dress. My Grandma thought I should wear it with a sweater. I didn't. It's actually in the kid's dress-up box. I probably could fit into it again - if I removed a few ribs.

At the time Coconut Joe's was one of "the" places to party. Now it's a daycare. Kind of makes you feel old!

The whole meeting wasn't as sordid as it sounds. I'll admit to writing my phone number in lip gloss on a piece of paper tablecloth. But I didn't have a pen. And, it was New Year's Eve. Isn't it kind of romantic to met your true love on New Years Eve? We were dancing when they started the count-down. Paul gave me my first kiss of 1989. Then later, he asked me to dance again. I wish I could say that we danced to something romantic and sweet. I just don't think you can classify "Boom Boom (Let's Go Back to My Room)" that way. Needless to say our friends took great delight in requesting that song at our wedding.

In a way we did kind of meet at the U of C. Paul called me for our first date after running into me at school. If meeting at a bar wasn't something he wanted to tell his parents, our first date was even more awkward. He picked me up for our date from a hotel where I was dancing. But to clarify, I was Highland dancing at a Scottish Ceilidh at the hotel! I'm not sure his friends heard those important details!

Well, yesterday Paul and I celebrated our 18th anniversary. So, I guess you can find love at a bar. Or at a library. Yes Caitlyn, there are lots of nice boys at the library!

Love You Forever

I was contemplating what to write about for Mother's Day when Robert Munsch's story "Love You Forever" popped into my head. It's a story about a mom who sings a special song to her sleeping child throughout his life. She sings:

I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living,
My baby you'll be.

Even though the time where she climbs into his window when he's an adult to sing to him strikes me as a little creepy, I must admit that I can rarely get through reading the story without getting a bit choked up. The part that always gets me is when he sings back to his mom when she is too old and sick to sing to him:

I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living,
My Mommy you'll be.

That book, Love you Forever, reminds us how as parents, and as children, we are tied together in such an amazing and eternal bond. Your child will be your child no matter how old she or he gets, and you will be their Mom, even when you are gone. Cherish each other.

Sure, there are times in life when that bond is tested. There are times when as children, and even as parents, we may love each other but not necessarily like some things the other half has done or said. We need to appreciate that being a Mom can be one of the easiest but also one of the most difficult things to do in the world.

The easy part is how much love as a Mom you can feel for your child. You just have to look at them (sometimes on a rough day, it's best when they're sleeping) and that warmth swells up inside of you.

And it is the most difficult thing when, as their parent, you have to let your child make their own way in life, see them hurt by others or even by themselves.

No, I'm not perfect and not likely up for "Mother of the Year," but Jack and Caitlyn know I'll love them forever. And, I have a homemade Mother's Day card and a video slide show to prove that they love me too. And that's enough.