Thursday, December 29, 2011

Yesterday I Lied

Yesterday, I lied. Well, not exactly lied but didn't share all the relevant information. I was told that is a lie by omission. So that is what I did.

My father-in-law, my daughter Kaylee and I were flying back home to Florida after visiting my family for the Christmas holiday and we were in the airport. As we walked to the gate, I ran into someone I had worked with many, many years ago and his wife.

They were grabbing dinner and we were going to our gate. Turns out, they were on the same flight we were so we said we would catch up later. In the brief moments that we chatted, I learned that they are expecting their first child and I told them Kaylee was going to be three at the end of the week.

Kaylee went up to the wife and said, "Come." She grabbed her hand and started to walk. They both laughed and remarked on how sweet she was. We parted ways and didn't catch up until baggage claim in Orlando.

They came over while an exhausted Kaylee was laying with her head on my lap. They ask how she was doing and this is when I pretended to be a "normal" parent with a "typical" child. I told them how Kaylee is always happy and brings smiles to the faces of everyone she meets, how she did awesome on the flight and didn't fuss or cry and how she loves to swim.

What I didn't tell them is that she has a genetic disorder, Prader-Willi Syndrome. Nor did I tell them how much work my sweet little girl had to do just to get to the point they saw her at. I didn't tell them that I live in fear of the constant hunger of PWS coming and claiming my angel.

No, I lied and pretended that we live in the "normal" world and it felt good for the time.

And when they told me she was beautiful, I knew that she was. But, she's so much more than that because of the rough road she's already traveled and the unknown road ahead that we all will travel together.

I only need to pretend to be like everyone else for a little while. It helps me and reminds me to be thankful for all Kaylee has accomplished. My mother said sometimes you have to tell a little white lie when the truth doesn't serve any good purpose and yesterday was that time.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

My Boyfriend's Back

This is my first blog post. Instead of giving a background of who I am, why I'm blogging, blah blah blah, I'm going to jump right in. Sometime down the road, I'll blog about all that. But, right now, I have exciting news.

I'm happily married (exciting, but not THE exciting part!) and there are three things my husband is in charge of: trash, letting the dog out at all hours of the night and directions.

Since I do a lot of driving shuttling our daughter hither and yon, and spend most of my time behind the wheel of a car completely lost, my husband - wonderful man that he is - got me a boyfriend. It's probably because he was tired of being my own personal GPS.

My boyfriend.

His name is TomTom and I have been lost without him (pun intended), lo these many weeks. He just up and quit on me. Maybe, he gave warning. Maybe, he froze up. I don't remember. What I do remember is my daily panic attacks as soon as I get behind that wheel. Who can help me? My husband? Not if I want to get him fired for too many personal calls and turn our family into one of the homeless.

My daughter was born without a paternal chromosome 15 (more on that later). I was born without a sense of direction. I have other talents. I promise I do. But directions, nope. That file got lost somewhere in the transfer.

I have been diligently scouring the boards, help sections and anything that Google spit out about "TomTom not working", "TomTom not turning on", or "Desperate directionally-challenged woman needs to fix her TomTom ASAP". And until tonight, no luck.

I was even thinking of cheating on him with another man (besides my husband that is) - Verizon Navigator. But, I couldn't bring myself to do it. Seeing how my hands started to shake and I was going through withdrawals, my husband asked if I had the original box and manual. Of course I did!

But, how the heck did he ever come up with that? Isn't that almost like asking for directions? I've never actually ever witnessed a man do that. I thought it was an urban myth and checked it out on Snopes.

Lo and behold. There was a diagram showing me where this elusive "reset" button I had been reading about was located. I didn't believe my TomTom had one. There, I admitted it.

But, in my defense, the manufacturer had placed a label cheerily declaring "Maps of US and Canada now preloaded on internal memory! No SD card required." Seriously, they used an exclamation point. They were pretty darn excited about the poor SD card being out of work.

Next to that sad empty SD slot was a teeny, tiny hole with the teeny, tiny word "Reset". (Cue choir of angels!) I inserted the end of a paper clip and VOILA!! I heard the TomTom drums. It's one of the sweetest sounds I've ever heard.

Just in the nick of time too. Soon, I have to figure out how to get to Union Park from Winter Garden. And in October, I have to find out how to get to this place called Monte Verde. Doesn't Monte Verde mean "green mountain"? I think they are pulling my leg. We're in Florida. Flat flat FLAT Florida.

It doesn't matter. I'll ask my boyfriend. He'll tell me the truth. AND he'll tell me how to get there ... now that he's back!!