Which Brings Me to Today...

About a year ago when my life changed drastically in a blink of an eye, my daughter had a very traumatic experience for which she will wear the scar for the rest of her life. Like every working day my ex dropped my daughter off at daycare and headed to work. I was already at work because I was working the early shift. While at daycare she was feeding their dog a treat and the dog turned on her biting her beautiful face, just missing her eye and cutting her lip in two right up to the base of her nose. I received a call from the hospital at around 11 am and they told me to sit down. I knew right away it was one of my kids, but a million thoughts ran through my mind. The nurse proceeded to tell me that my daughter had been bitten by the sitter's dog. I asked if it was repairable and she said "We aren't sure." I broke down in tears. My daughter was blessed with great beauty, light brown skin, sparkling green eyes and curls that make her look like an angel. Although I was relieved that she was alive, I knew that if they could not fix her face her life as she knew it would cease to exist, as like all other little girls she placed a lot of importance on looking like a princess and feeling pretty. I had always tried to stress how that was not important, but little girls see the world around them and notice how much importance is placed on how they look. The nurse told me that my ex would be coming with my daughter to pick me up and warned me that my daughter's face might be upsetting. We were to drive to Kingston to speak to a plastic surgeon there. It seemed like hours before they came to get me, but it was probably more like minutes. They had bandaged my daughter's face so well that I couldn't tell how bad it was.

We arrived in Kingston and checked in at the emergency department. We were scheduled to see a specific doctor, but we still had to wait for several hours. My daughter was bright and beautiful as usual. We read and coloured and she tried to talk. She was hard to understand, but she kept trying to tell us that the doggy didn't mean to hurt her. It touched my heart to see that even through all her pain she could find love for the animal that bit her. My daughter showed herself to be very strong in the face of difficult times. I was so proud of her.

When they removed the bandage and I saw for the first time the face of my daughter I tried to hold back the tears, but they streamed down my face uncontrollably. I knew I had to be strong for my daughter so they were silent tears. The doctor assessed the injuries and said he would likely be able to fix her up, but when I saw her face I feared for the worst and hoped for the best.

It would be a couple of hours before she would be having the surgery. It was one of the longest days of my life.

When they wheeled her away to the operating room she waved like a queen to the nurses and doctors and they couldn't believe what a sweet girl she was. Her surgery was quite quick but it took a long time for the doctor to come to us with a report.

The doctor told us the surgery went well and that he anticipated that she would do well. I breathed a sigh of relief, but I still was afraid that she would have terrible scars.

We stayed another night in the hospital and then we were sent home. We were to try to keep her out of the sun as much as possible and put vitamin E and Polysporin on it. We did our best even though it was Spring, and Summer was fast approaching.

She healed amazingly well with very few scars, but may have to have an additional surgery to repair a small flaw which is not too noticeable, which brings me to today. It is the day of the follow-up appointment. Hopefully all will go well and we can put this whole thing behind us having learned from it, and become stronger people.

I've learned that difficult times and trials make up our character and my daughter will be a better person for having experienced this, and so will I.

Who is Charlie?

It was April fools Day and I had decided to soak in a warm bath and relax. I slowly lowered myself into the almost unbearably hot water and opened my new book looking forward to reading the first pages. Just as the numbness was beginning to subside from my ass, as for some reason I enjoy my bath to be unnaturally hot, the phone rang. Luckily I have learned to take the phone with me when I have a bath and I answered it quickly. The voice on the other end was unfamiliar. It was an elderly woman with a quivering shrill sounding voice and a British accent.

"Hello, is Charlie there please?" she enquired.
"No, I'm afraid you have the wrong number." I answered.
"Well can you tell him to call me when he is free." She unwittingly added.
"I'm afraid there is a misunderstanding, you have the wrong number..." I tried to reiterate.
"Wrong number?" she questioned, "Oh alright then dear," she continued, seemingly comprehending my words, "Well if you could tell him to call Mabel, I would appreciate it."

I again tried to help Mabel understand. "Charlie doesn't live here, you must have the wrong number." I spoke clearly and enunciated every syllable.
"Does he have company?" Mabel continued, "Because I would surely be grateful if you would tell him I am looking for him. When he is free it would be lovely if he would call me."

I relented, waiting for a chuckle or a hint of familiarity in the voice, as surely to goodness this could not be real. Someone had concocted a rather clever April Fool's joke, and I was indubitably the victim. I paused....Still no sign of the joke concluding. I finally replied, "Mabel, I'll let Charlie know you called, and as soon as he's in I'll have him phone you."

So was it a joke? Well traditionally the joke ends eventually with an utterance of "April Fools!!" at the end, and no such words were ever said. Perhaps some of my friends are still laughing at this joke, as I am notorious for playing these same type of hi jinx on my friends, and it could be that whoever it was, is reading this very same sentence that I am typing right now and waiting for this very moment to reply with a comment saying "April Fools!" But I think Mabel was a real person, confused and unaware that her past had gotten away from her. Who was Charlie? A long lost love? A family member? A friend? I hope she finds him, whoever he is.

Ok...you got me!!

It's funny to really see how well your friends know you. I am not an easy person to surprise, because I am always pulling fast ones on everyone else so I am especially suspicious. This coupled with the fact that I pay far too much attention to the actions of those I love... but lately I have been a little distracted so the timing was perfect.

It all started a few weeks ago when my sister and best male friend decided to plan something for my 30th birthday.. They sent out invitations via email and planned meticulously in order to keep it a surprise. This is not easy since my best female friend can't keep a surprise a secret to save her life and usually ends up slipping....She just avoided me for three weeks, which I didn't really question because we don't always call each other or get together regularly and we have an understanding. A few of my work friends were also invited, and I am quite surprised that they were able to keep me out of the loop because the thing with me is I always can tell when someone is up to something...mostly because I usually am...but either I wasn't paying close enough attention or they have really good poker faces.

So fast forward to last week when my best male friend asked me to go shopping on Saturday and had even gone so far as to plan our dinner at Burger king....This should have been a dead give away really because he never really plans that far in advanced, but I didn't clue into that either. So the plan was set into motion. My friend and I went shopping in the afternoon and to burger king for supper, he did try to drag out the day which I thought was weird because my children were becoming quite unruly, but I just figured he missed spending time with me (but seriously)... We arrived at my house around 7 and I saw that my recycle and garbage had been taken out and some packages from cleaning supplies that I hadn't opened were in the recycle bins. I said aloud "that is weird, someone has been here..." I thought for a minute...."My mom must have dropped off my new vacuum, and did some tidying while she was there." This is probably where my friend breathed a sigh of relief because I didn't figure it out.

I walked in the door and my friends shouted "SURPRISE" and let me tell you..I was surprised. It was cool to see friends who had travelled from Toronto, my sister from Peterborough, my boss and close friend, my two best friends and a few very special friends from work. It was just a perfect mingling of friends and the ones who couldn't make it were there in spirit. I pumped the party with some tunes and they had a table full of delicious food so as far as I'm concerned that is all that is needed for a good party. But of course my friends who know me well, knew that the perfect party for me includes a karaoke machine, and even better still a paper mache Dora the Explorer with a death wish makes it even more of a celebration. So we strung Dora up to a broomstick and my male best friend held her up cowering in fear as I was blindfolded and with great conviction I declared "Hasta la vista Dora!!!" Beating Dora to a pulp until all that was left of her was her decapitated head. Candy poured onto the floor and I declared victory over that little kid with the talking backpack, hoping Boots was next, because I would really like to give him a couple of whacks too. So after my killing of every one's favorite little explorer it was time for the gifts. My friends again proved how well they know me as each gift was very well thought out and I loved all of them. After the gifts we plugged in the karaoke machine, and for some reason even though it was my birthday, I ended up not only the first on the microphone, but I had to sing every song, not because none of my friends can sing, but because they are all a bunch of chickens. I did manage to get some of them to sing with me so it was cool. We sang all night and I gave it all I had. I am after all the reigning queen of karaoke undisputed hands down, and if anyone wishes to dispute this BRING IT ON!!!

Everyone had a great time and it was the best surprise, I couldn't have felt more lucky to have great friends then last night. Some of us enjoyed a few more beverages then others....but it was all in good company and great fun. And those people will be pleased to see their pictures on this blog in all their drunken glory.

I do want to thank all my friends though. I'm going to be thirty and I am so blessed I have 2 beautiful children, great friends a roof over my head and I have become an independent woman who knows her mind, and has all that she could possibly need or want, but still has goals and dreams. I think thirty is going to be fantastic, I look forward to seeing what the future holds for me. There is so much to look forward to in my life right now. I've been able to meet some really amazing people in my life and I know I am lucky to have them. I have always said that with friends it's quality not quantity, and that is so true...I didn't have hundreds of people celebrating my birthday with me, but I had 10 of the coolest people you could ever know at my party and I knew each of them well and they knew me. We had stories and memories...there were people I'd known my whole life and some that I had only known for a few years. There were a few people who couldn't make it or that my friends wouldn't have known to invite, but all in all it was the perfect gathering of friends, and I will remember it forever...mostly because my friends are a little snap happy with the cameras...and there are some pretty frightening videos floating around which will likely be used against me at some point in the future.

Peace out twenties...Onward and upward to my thirties, as I'm sure it will be a wild ride full of new challenges and adventures and new memories yet to be made.