My older son, Michael is on his way home from Japan. It’s been two years since I’ve seen him and something like 13 or 14 years in the Air Force. And now, both journeys are over. He will be home in Baltimore tomorrow, reunited with his lovely wife, and looking for a new career.
Can’t wait to see his face and hug him tight.
eta: michael and the dogs arrived exhausted and safe according to his wife. they are w/out phone/internet until the cable guy makes it out there.
Well, my older son, Michael is getting married next month. He’s stationed in Japan right now, so it will be a very private affair, hopefully with a reception next year when he’s back in the States. He and his fiancee, Joy, sent this lovely, Japanese style announcement.
I’m very happy for both of them!
My son, Michael was walking his dogs, Moogi and Wil Friday night around 6:00. As he passed a house a couple blocks from his home, a woman let her black lab out into her fence-free yard whereupon the dog attacked Michael. Michael was bit on his hand and thigh.
He called me from the hospital where he was being treated. They washed out his wounds and then injected each puncture with rabies immune globulin. I heard him scream. Not a sound any mother wants to hear over the phone!
As of now, we don’t know if animal control has bothered to impound the dog, but since Michael is in the Air Force, I kinda think there will be some sort of followup. At least I hope so, because that dog was totally out of control and if it had been a child or even a teenager walking their dog, they could have been killed.
my poor boy…
things started out nicely enough, unwrapping presents over coffee and biscotti. brni was pleased with his new gi and jesse was happy to get his rock salt lamp and the inevitable socks stuffed in his stocking. brni blessed me with my very first drum. a lovely little djembe with a lizard pattern dotted across the base. time spent later cooking for the winter party. family came. friends came. michael brought his lovely friend, joy and his two dogs.
then things turned very wrong.
one of brni’s friends let michael’s dogs loose. why? how? i don’t know. i wasn’t there. i was in the band room with a friend from our dojang talking about sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll. brni came down and stood over me with his winter coat on, and told me that the dogs had been let out the front door. michael had raced after them, chasing them across lancaster pike and back, but lost them in the night. when michael returned to the house, he collapsed in an emotionally exhausted heap. i didn’t quite understand what brni was saying at first. how could all this have happened one floor up without me knowing? bill, brni and i ran out with flashlights and leashes in a vain attempt to catch the dogs.
the dogs, moogi and wil are silken windhounds. they are a new, rather rare breed, established from the borzoi (russian wolfhound) and whippet. they hit a top speed of 35 mph and have no body fat whatsoever. christmas night was bitterly cold; not a good night for skinny dogs. brni went back, called 911 and filed a report. bill and i gave up the search shortly afterwards. the house emptied out rather quickly after that and i made brni take rebecca home. it was not a night for guests to be sleeping over.
i paced most of the night and finally fell into a fitful sleep around 4am. when i got up, michael and joy were already out searching. they got back around 7:30 and michael got to work creating flyers to post everywhere. then the phone rang with news that the dogs were found! they were frolicking between the large yards on daventree road, just three blocks away! we piled in the car with raw meat, leashes and trembling relief. wil saw michael first and came running. then moogi took his eye off the cop and ran to his family. michael gave them the meat that was to be their christmas feast. joy ran from the car and i asked, “do you have the leashes?” she stopped, looked adorably sheepish and ran back for them. so much joyful running after such fear and sadness…
at home, the dogs were closely inspected. they were terrified, cold but frostbite and injure-free from their grand holiday adventure.
and i am rethinking the whole holiday party thing. we had a good 12 year party run, but the gods are not on our side anymore, and i think we need to heed the ever so obvious warnings.
i called michael tonight. he got the x-ray results to see what the damage was that was inflicted by the mother-hell-hug. the doctor said that there was no evidence of problems in his spine. in fact, the curve of the spine is now better than it was. the doctor surmises that my overly emphatic hug somehow aligned his spine. the severe pain he suffered from my “adjustment” was probably caused by the suddenness of the therapeutic hug. heh.
motherly chiropractic ‘r us.
we moved the birds out and most of the bits of clutter and clustered the plants (2 large bananas, and other way too big plants for our tiny house) into the corners, pulled out the table and used the longish plant table to extend it lengthwise. there’s no lighting in the room, so i scrounged every candle i owned and placed them around so we could see our food.
i had everything set and ready so that all i needed to do was cook and put the food out for our thanksgiving feast.
then people started showing up. my sister criticized everything. my dad kept sticking his face into mine and grabbing stuff out of my hands while i was trying to cook all the last minute crunch time dishes…you know all the stuff that gets done all at once. my son, michael finally had to ban dad from the kitchen. brni tried to squeeze in 2 more place settings when his brother and girlfriend unexpectedly arrived, upping the body count to twelve. lori began helping him and started rearranging chairs and generally confused the issue. jesse went in and used his magic to bring order back to the room.
i came within a breath of losing control of the dinner. brni’s mother and my sister had dumped a bunch of debris on the kitchen counters (fried bread (why?), purses, paper bags with nothing in them). michael (along with everyone else, i fear) realized what was happening. he held me by the shoulders, somehow centering me so that i could go on. he even managed to clear off enough space to carve the free range, freshly sacrificed bird.
finally, we sat down and the food was very good despite everyone’s efforts at sabotage.
after pie, freshly whipped cream and coffee, they all cleared out rather quickly. hate to eat and run, thanks for feeding me. among brni’s mom’s too many parting words were, “i don’t mind if we do this at my house next time. it is much bigger and if everyone else brings the food…”
my cousin and jesse’s girlfriend dropped by on their way back from their respective family feasts. we all had a wonderful time chatting and drinking slivovitz. then, in a feeling of love and warmth, i gave michael a big bear-hug and destroyed his back. his pain was intense and his left arm was rendered useless. love hurts.
i had to literally carry him, walking backwards over to the chair. after many horrible minutes (or was it hours?), jesse helped him up and outside to try and keep him mobile. they did a lot of talking and it came out that jesse’s father had thrown michael against a wall when he was eight, which michael believes was the start of his back problems. this was news to jesse (i hadn’t related details of all the violence his father subjected us to). jesse’s anger and hatred of his father rekindled in the flame of his brother’s pain. bless me father, for you have sinned.
when michael got to the point where he could walk on his own (more or less), i had brni set up the massage table. i put michael on it and gave him reiki. the only way i can describe his face, mind, body and breathing is clenched. after i started the reiki, he slowly began to breath normally. his face softened and he began to snore. by the time i was done, his breathing was completely normal and his snoring quieted. i managed to get him up to bed and tucked him in. his dogs snuggled in around him and i went back downstairs to find jess and brni doing the last of the cleanup.
it was now 3am. completely spent, i went to bed.
yesterday, we decided that the 2 1/2 hr drive home would be too much for michael. so i loaded his dogs into the back of my forester, placed michael in the front seat and drove them to baltimore. brni and loki followed in michael’s car. luckily, traffic on 95 was lighter than the usual friday afternoon/evening stop n’crawl because the gods, in their infinite wisdom, created black friday and everyone was worshiping at the malls.
today, i plan to keep my feet up and read something totally inane and entertaining. i may break out the epsom salts and settle into a tub full of lavender oil.
i also plan on canceling all future thanksgiving celebrations.
