And so, the pins are out of Tucker’s foot. We can officially say he is tougher than nails. Because, oh my goodness, that was no small undertaking. They had told us it wouldn’t hurt to take out the pins. Bones don’t have nerve endings, so when you break a bone, it’s not the actual bone […]
I don’t remember why I was kneeling and crying. Last week was kind of a doozy for such things. I can’t recall what exactly pushed me to the brink, and I don’t know how I got to my knees or why I didn’t get up, except that it must have seemed fitting to stay where […]
Here’s a little exercise to bring you right into the action with me on this one. Reach down to the inside of your left ankle. Feel that knobby bone? Now, reach just below that, not quite to the arch of your foot, but to the soft tissue part in between. Feel that? I rammed Tucker’s […]
Two weeks post surgery, we went back to Children's Hospital for our follow-up appointment. They cut through all the layers of cotton that had been holding him together, which looked an awful lot like shearing a sheep. (Or what I’ve seen of sheep shearing, which was probably on Sesame Street.) I thought I was prepared […]
To read this article in its entirety with PJ Parenting, click here. I was drinking iced coffees at Starbucks with my agent, whom I love deeply and implicitly for more reasons than just the fact that he launched my career. He asked me, “Trish, how will you redeem this #BrokenFootSummer? How does a writer make […]
It's a blast from the past, you guys: one of the favorites from the archives of my life as a young(er) mom. Only this time, it's going live to the world - with a twist. Read to remember, or read to experience it all for the first time. * * * The headline is this: […]
Children's Hospital is like EPCOT. Our male nurse named Coop who whispered when Tuck was sleeping, listened to his pain, and was every bit a man's man. The 'ball circus' in the lobby of Children's Hospital. We could watch for hours. Scents and flavors to change the smells and tastes of medicines. Nurses who tell […]
Tucker and I spent yesterday at Children’s Hospital, which is in itself a really beautiful place. I spent the day feeling like we were on some part of Disney property with all the colors and foods and things to see. I’m not even kidding. We wandered around for the hours between our appointments, and I […]
"Mom, can you bring me the crunches?" "Buddy, the word is crutches." "Right. Crunches." "No. Crutches." "Crrrunches. Crrrr-onch-es. Cronches." "Let me help you. Just take out the n. Tuck, say much." "Much." "Say touch." "Touch." "Say such." "Such." "Say crutch." "Crotch." "Nope... You know what? Say wheelchair."
Tucker fell six feet from the top of a swing set. In a crash landing, the arch of his foot bent backward underneath him and he cracked his instep to pieces. His foot is broken in four places, the ligaments are torn, the growth plates are in danger, and we are awaiting a CT scan […]
"I think I understand how love works, Mom. It's like God plants a seed in your heart, and then you invite someone in to take care of your flower garden." ~ Tuck, age 9 It is the stuff that sonnets and love songs are made of, and my third grader just packaged it all into one perfect […]
I’ll admit, I still have kind of a hard time knowing who has the ball and what’s happening next on the football field at Tucker’s games. Keeping score takes my full attention, which - let’s be honest - is usually divided by the younger of my two distractions, so when they throw in some penalties […]
It's great to be known. There is a dance in knowing - in the pursuit of the dozens of details. The lyrics that matter, the way she takes her coffee, the way he likes his eggs, what it means when she smirks that way, what it means when he clears his throat that way, how […]
“Mommy, did you know someone can die of a broken heart?” “I do know.” I very nearly have. I don't often get to be the one to decide when and where we will have these memorable conversations, and they most often emerge at stoplights, in public bathrooms, or in the frozen foods section. For this […]
I got hit with some kind of horrific stomach bug that surely spawned from the fall of man. I will spare you the details, most graciously. But let’s just say that our family’s tradition is to have pork and sauerkraut on New Year’s, and I have since been ruined on sauerkraut for the foreseeable future. […]
During an Ohio State football game a couple of weeks ago, Tuck was in the ER for the evening with breathing trouble. He tuned into the game on the TV in our little portion of the hospital. The respiratory therapist came in with the drugs that could free his lungs. He was a Michigan fan. […]
It was bedtime, and together we were reading the story of Abraham and Isaac from The Jesus Storybook Bible. I was well into reading aloud before I realized that maybe this particular story is better processed during the day instead of bedtime -- these images of a father climbing a hill with his young son, […]
"I hate you!" I hear one brother mutter to another in the backseat. I gasp dramatically and pull the car over. I put on my emergency flashers for our safety, but also because I've told the boys that if a police officer drives by and wonders what's happening, I will tell him the children in […]
I feel like one of the ways we could help the laundry situation at our house is by getting Tucker a dresser. I realize how absurd that sounds. It's like saying, I feel like one of the ways I could keep my kids from going barefoot is to buy them some shoes. But we all […]
During my bedtime yoga, there's this great part of the sequence devoted to flexing and massaging the feet. Adriene tells us how good and valuable a foot massage is, how you need to be kind to your feet, and she suggests that if you have someone in your home with whom you could trade the favor […]
