Some of My Favorite People

I didn't get to spend time with Mike this weekend. How I would have loved that had it been possible. Just to have a weekend to hang out, make spaghetti, forget the garlic bread is in the oven and burn it and then snuggle up on the couch and watch TV with our lap tops on our laps and the smell of burned bread in the air. It's amazing what you miss.

In any case, I was able to spend time with three of my favorite people this weekend.

My Grandma Bea spent two nights at my house. She's 88. She's going through a hard time and is lonely. But my girls make her happy because they love her and play with her and hug and kiss her and there are moments when she folds one of their little clothes items strung over some chair that she stands a little straighter and taller and her eyes go from sad to having a purpose for a moment. I wish I could give her that all the time. Getting old seems to be very very difficult. I pray that I am able to grow old and if given the opportunity that I will remember to be thankful each day even as my world grows smaller and people fall out of it and loneliness creeps closer.

Stephanie Werner - Steph was my doctor in Nebraska and my girls doctor from the time they were born. She is here checking out a radiology program at Travis AFB and I got to pick her up at the airport yesterday and spend the day with her visiting and catching up. There are a few people in my life that I am just thankful that God brought to me. Steph is one of those people. She was one of the staff docs that were responsible for the residents so she was one of Mike's bosses. But he saw something in her and the way she practices medicine and her compassion that clicked with him and he learned all he could from her and a big part of the way he practices medicine is due to Stephanie. As my doctor, she took care of me during my pregnancy and made sure I ended up with my babies at the end of it all. She fought for specialty care for my twins and made sure I was being checked all the time. At every office visit we'd grab the ultrasound machine and watch the babies swim around and she treated me like she would her sister and celebrated with me and worried with me and was there every step of the journey. I had to have a c-section and she was who I called on the way to the hospital and she was the first one there in the morning to check on me and make sure it went okay. She became our family doctor and when I realized I had postpartum depression, she jumped on getting me the help I needed and checking in with me every day until she knew I was okay. And when having twins drained me and strained my shoulder so the muscles tore from constantly holding a growing baby and I was so tired I thought I would die she treated me as my doctor and volunteered to babysit if I needed her. She never made me feel like a loser and cheered my on at all times. She shared her own struggles in regards to motherhood and how much she loved her boys and let me know I could do it even if I didn't do it perfectly. We joined forces and gave a briefing to all the Family Medicine Doctors in the program about how to get their patients who where infertile care through the military so more people could afford to do infertility and have the family they dreamed of. She referred patients to me who were struggling with infertility and I was able to feel like I helped some girls just like me realize their dream of becoming a mother. Steph is one of those people God sends to you that you at just the right time for a season in your life in which they will save you. Steph saved me. And for that I will forever grateful. And she's a lot of fun and we laugh and totally get each other. When she was my doctor we had to be careful because we couldn't really be friends. And we never crossed that line where we were more friends than doctor/patient. But now, she's just my friend. And I am so thankful for both.

Steve - Steve is my littlest brother. Technically we do not share blood. He shares blood with Mike. Steve was three, the age of my girls, when I met him. He was shy. He didn't want anything to do with me. Then, one night, I tickled him in the ribs. And I laughed when he tried to slyly tickle me back. And ever since that night, he's been one of the people in the world that I most look forward to seeing. When I was younger he would flip my ponytail up and down, fascinated with the different ribbons and bows I would wear in my hair. After I got married and we got Joshy Boy, he would play for hours with my dog. Before Josh, he was deathly afraid of dogs. But getting to know Josh took care of that fear. He spent the night at our house, we took him to the snow, went to his baseball games and always tried to get him that one thing he really really really was dreaming about for Christmas. As he got older we became friends. And now, he is Uncle Steve to my babies who are the age he was when we first met. He has told me before that he's the only one of his brothers that has no memory of not having a sister because he's had one for as long as he can remember. I could not love Steve more if we shared blood. He's in college and trying to figure out what to do with the rest of his life. Whatever he does he will be successful and happy and blessed because if he's not, I'll fix it. That's what big sisters do. And Mike loves him every bit as much as me. He's one of my favorites. Oh, and ladies? He's single, cute, smart and a snazzy dresser.