P.S.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAMMIE!!! I hope you have had a great day! You are catchin up with me aren't ya? ;)

'Twas The Week Before Christmas

'Twas the week before Christmas and all through the house all the creatures were stirring cuz Melissa was in the hospital. :P

So I was working on Monday, the 17th and started getting some chest pain. I kept on working and it started getting worse and my chest started feeling tight in the middle. I had experienced this about a week prior but had recently had a cold and figured it was just muscle strain from coughing so much. Anyway, I ended up going over to the ER to have it checked after talking with my boss and with Ed. The doctor said the EKG and chest x-ray looked fine but he wanted to keep me over night for observation to make sure that the pain wasn't a sign of something further to come. He said that it might be Acid Reflux and gave me a "GI cocktail" to see if it made any difference. It did get better but they had also given me nitro paste and an asprin at the same time so I didn't know which had helped. I stayed all night and no doctor came in the morning. I didn't have a Primary Care doctor at the time because I hadn't needed one since we've been back so they assigned me one. Anywho, evidently there was confusion about who was supposed to see me so I didn't get seen till the end of the business day. The doctor said that all of my cardiac enzymes and EKGs were good but that she still wanted to do a stress test to rule out heart complications. As it turned out, I knew her because our kids are in the same class at school so she said she would release me and trust me to do the stress test on an out-patient basis as long as I did it within the next couple of days. Yay! I felt better Wednesday and most of Thursday but then I started getting aches, fever and chills Thursday night. I wondered if it was all related. Turns out it was not, but was a very yucky stomach virus that took me a good 5 days to get over! Ik! (Probably took it home with me from the hospital!) So I went and had the stress test on Friday in the midst of me feeling all crummy and it was a long day but the results were good in the end! I was relieved to hear that my heart is fine! Now all we need to know is what is causing the chest pain. I am going back to the doctor on Wednesday so I am sure there will be more tests in my future. I am okay with that...just so glad it wasn't my heart...kinda scared me.

I hope all of you are having FABULOUS holidays! My apologies to my extended family who haven't received their Christmas presents yet! Unfortunately I am a "last minute" kind of gal and all of my "last minutes" got used up!

Merry (belated) Christmas and Happy New Year!

STUFF

Why is "stuff" such a big deal? Okay, so we went to some friends' house tonight who have 5 different Christmas trees in their home. It is a very large and beautiful home. They are beautiful people, truly. I pride myself on not being materialistic and yet I am bugged. Do I feel "less than" because I don't have 5 Christmas trees in my house? I don't think I WANT 5 Christmas trees... or do I? Would I be happier, greater, more important if I had 5 Christmas trees and a 4,000 sq. ft. house? I love our 1 beautiful tree and our cozy 1500 sq. ft. house, so what's wrong with me? My kids have SO much stuff... TOO much stuff and yet when we go to the house where we were tonight, they come away dreaming (out loud) of living in a house like that and having all that stuff! Uggghhh! We talk about what's important... God, family, loving each other, kindness, trust. They know what's important in this life... I KNOW what's important in this life. So why is "stuff" such a big deal???????

A Different Christmas Poem

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.
The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,
Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.
"What are you doing?", I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here.
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve.
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts,
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light.
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."
"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me."
"I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at ' Pearl on a day in December,'
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."
"My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ' Nam ',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile."
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
"I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home."
"I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother."
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."
"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long."
"For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."