Friday, September 25, 2009

Rule with an iron example

I love being a Dad. It doesn't mean I'm necessarily good at it but I try. I examine, I analyze and I try to fix things that I think aren't working in my role.

The other day I was walking my son into school after having had what we call in our house, "a hard morning." I often fall into the trap of fighting too hard for the individual battles when it is the complete war that I need to focus on. Sometimes we parents need to let go a little bit and back off and concentrate on the whole picture. I don't remember the particulars of this particular morning but I know that I was probably grumpier, louder and more stubborn than I would like to admit. When this happens, my and my son's personalities are like oil and water. It gets loud. It gets emotional. It gets embarassing to me when I finally get over myself and calm down.

So we had one of those mornings. By the time we got to school I was still maybe a little grumpier and a little torqued with my son for making it such a hard morning (conveniently overlooking my own part in the situational mood). We walked into school and as we went down the hallway to the classroom door I looked down at the center of my universe holding onto my hand. He had flipped his sunglasses up onto the top of his head like a raised visor and his hair was pushed up and splayed straight up in random directions by the glasses. Without thinking about it I reached up onto the top of my own head where I had done the same thing with my own glasses.

I kissed him goodbye for the day and proceded on to the adult part of my day. But it suddenly occured to me that even when I'm being a bit of an obstinant asshole of a father, my son is still watching. He's still sponging up how to act. He's learning to sometimes raise his voice and to argue a petty detail instead of rising above and staying calm. And this reminder brings me to a calmer place as a parent. Because he's learning alot more from me than just where to put his sunglasses when he goes indoors.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Patience...

Had surgery last Wednesday to repair both scaphoids with neat titanium screws.

After the surgery I was violently ill throwing up all day as is normal for me and pain killers. Kris says, "I don't know how you do these things without taking anything." Pain is easier than pain plus puking. It's that simple.

Got the giant splints off this morning after five horrible days of not being able to do SQUAT. Stiches removed and more x-rays. All looks good so far. Now I'm in wrist braces but at least they are removable and I can at least resume taking normal showers - albeit gingerly.
Recovery will be eight to twelve weeks of limiting my handwork to 5 pounds and then moving up to ten to fifteen pounds in order to avoid stripping the threads and rebreaking the bones. That means no real work beyond typing and some light electronics work. It also means NO BIKE quite possibly for the rest of the year... OUCH! As you may know (if you know me or don't look too far back through this blog) I was mondo-PSYCHED and fit for cyclocross season. Now there won't even BE a cyclocross season. This has been a very very hard pill to swallow but I'm trying to not let it get me too down...

Doctor said I can run, though. I'm not much of a runner and I kind of generally loath it as a form of excercise but I'll want to keep in shape so I can bite that bullet for the next two or three months.

In other news. My son is a complete goofball..... I wonder where he gets that from?