Do It Right

Do it right? What does that term mean? If a stranger walks into my house they wouldn't believe I'm doing it right. My house looks like the cave of hell. School, work, homeschooling, and caring (originally the word posted before caring was carrying: wonder why I did that?) for my husband are two full time jobs. Have I taken on too much? Yes. I just want to finish my degree this semester, then work full time to meet the bills. In all of this, I miss my free time to write. The required blog for the weekly class I'm in does help enforce the free write. Still, 600 words plus here a week, and another 600 words plus a week for another class (with the same professor --whom I enjoy learning from much) tasks the abilities to come up with something new. I do not want to repeat myself in either; and, my life is so packed with just life, I can't respond to any news, let alone any new breakthroughs. When I have to deal with SS again, I'm sure I'll be writing plenty.

It wasn't long ago I had to fill out a form for my daughter's portion of the SS. All they questions they asked are already on file with answers. Why take my time when they can pull it all up on a computer? Well, I filled it all out, and found the sealed envelop still sitting on my desk! I know I should have placed it in the mailbox, but when I called home to have my son immediately get it off the desk and put it in the mailbox, I never thought about checking to see if he did. Three weeks since I filled out the information. It is a good thing that the information doesn't have to reach them until the end of March.

One thing that gets tiring is filling out paper work for Garry and Ginet. I know I haven't mentioned much about her disability. She does have a physical disability, but it isn't recognizable—a narrow pulmonary artery that interferes with her valve, causing blood to flow back into the heart instead of flowing out as it should (whatever section of the heart that is called). She also has a hole in heart, the hole that all babies have at birth that normally closes up. The recognizable disability can only be witnessed when she speaks—Mildly Mentally Handicapped (MiMH) is how she is labeled. Mild retardation. She 's on the lower rung of the mild category. She isn't my only child with the mental disability; my oldest son has the same condition, but is a little higher functioning. I've been told that two children in the same family with retardation is unusual; in fact, I remember someone saying, during all the testing, using the word anomaly. It can't be much of an anomaly when I personally know a family in New Haven that has two children with retardation.

Sadly, my grandmother blamed herself. My aunt, who I never had a chance to meet, because she died at the age of twelve, was mildly retarded. My uncle, who lived to a good old age, was retarded, but not from birth—he had two childhood diseases (one on top of the other). Most people would say, "Fried the brain." Gran'ma always took some things too personally. The doctors cannot tell Garry and I why we have two children with retardation, but we know a syndrome called Noonan's genetically runs in one of our families. Noonan's syndrome's characteristics are short stature, heart trouble, and in about thirty percent of the children, retardation. An early noticeable condition is having trouble swallowing, or continuously regurgitating immediately after swallowing. There are a few others, but I can't recall what they are right now. Garry's family has people from under 5 feet to over 6 feet in height. Ginny is the shortest person on my side of the family. The term short stature means people under five feet tall. Garry's youngest sister is under five feet, his grandmother was under five feet, and if I remember correctly, her mother was under five feet. When Noonan's runs in the family, half of the children born to the family will have Noonan's. I believe the other children are carriers. Most children live very normal lives. If the geneticist is correct, than there should be at least three to four other of Garry's siblings under five feet. Hmm, oddly, there isn't. The trouble is, I don't know how many miscarriages my mother-in-law had. I know she had a few. And I should have at least one other child under five feet, but I don't. I did have three miscarriages and a stillborn. Maybe Ginet doesn't have Noonan's. Hard to say; Garry and I can only go based on the scientific facts we have been given.

What does everything I have just said have to do with "Do It Right?" It looks like there isn't a way to Do It Right—life doesn't allow for it.