Dane, The Mighty Wrestler

This weekend is Dane's last regular season wrestling meet before Sub-Regionals. Due to the loss of a schoolmate this week, which I posted previously, all the basketball teams have cancelled practice for the last three days and have cancelled their games through the end of this week. Unfortunately, the wrestlers have had to push through it as wrestling tournaments with multiple schools, particularly this late in the season, just can't be by-passed with Subs the following week. On the other hand, these student athletes are used to being very busy and I think there is comfort in following the "normal routine" to whatever extent is possible.

In any case, I'm posting a video of Dane from last week's meet. He medalled 4th, with all of the 1st-3rd place finishers being Seniors and qualifiers for last year's State Championship. The 1st place finisher was a teammate of Dane's, and the reigning State Champion. WAY TO GO, DANE!!!

I'm also going to post some photos in the next few days and, as you can see, Dane is tall and thin for his weight class. I always thought it was a myth that wrestlers were short and bulky. I was wrong--its true!! I ride Dane constantly about, rather than trying to wrestle "lean and mean", he would be better to bump up in to the 170-180 pound range and be "buff." So far......my strategy is falling on deaf ears. (What do Moms know anyway, right?) In any case, his bottom weight from calibration was set at 148 pounds, so he's as low as he can go now without having to worry that he'll be under his limit. To whomever the person(s) was/were that came up with the legislation to require calibration, weight-loss limits, and hydration requirements........Bless your heart(s)!!! My son would have been one of those that would have been 5 foot 9 inches and an emaciated 130 pounds. He's scrawny enough at 152! (I wish I had half his self-control regarding what goes in my mouth.) My next concern? That he and Grant will at some point have to wrestle each other in competition. Think the referees would humor a parent and declare a tie? UGH!

Enjoy the video! We're proud of you Dane!!!

Gone too soon!

Max lost his fight for life yesterday, and an entire community is grieving. Today, I found this photo of Dane blocking for Max in a Junior High football game two years ago.

Please take time today to tell your children that no problem is too big to work through. Not drugs.......not pregnancy.......not crime......nothing is worth this! We don't know what caused Max to make this horrible decision, but there is no one to blame but Max. It was a cruel decision he made that will torment his family forever.

Max......You were a good son, big brother, and friend. We will never forget you and your silly smile. I wish your family peace, and am angry that have caused so much hurt. You are so very loved.

Where everybody knows your name.....

There is nothing like a tragedy in a small town to bring a community to their knees. Last night, this small town indeed suffered a horrific tragedy that still has yet to have the final chapter written. A tremendous young man, full of promise and with a great future, suffered a gunshot wound to the head. With no speculation intended and prolific apologies if I'm wrong, it appears from all reports to have been self-inflicted. This young man is a freshman at RHS, "sandwiched" by my sophomore and 8th grader, and was coached by Mike in football this past fall. His Mom is a personal long-time friend of mine, and I have spent the last 12+ hours in disbelief. The entire town has been shaken to its core by this one. Max is currently at Harborview in Seattle, clinging to life, while his Dad hurries in from a fishing boat in the Bering Sea , and the rest of the family just sits and waits for the decisions to come. This family doesn't fit the profile that we've all come to expect with these situations. Four brash and energetic boys(Max is the oldest)......a stay-at-home Mom.......a successful Dad that works a large commercial fishing boat......a huge and beautiful home..........For pete's sake, they even took in an "extra" this past fall, no questions asked, when a local boy needed a safe and warm place to stay. Mom joked with me one day that she bought him a new package of underwear because his were coming through her dirty laundry in tatters, and that was the end of that--she now had FIVE boys.

With Jennica's VEEG at Mary Bridge, Dane's wrestling matches, Tiersten's new first grade teacher, Grant's basketball games, and work, I have spent the last three weeks running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Today, I am humbled beyond belief and reminded to SLOW DOWN. My priorities have been re-arranged in an instant and if someone doesn't like it, OH WELL!!!

To Jody, Tate, Elliott, Cooper, Carson....and Max.......we love you all! May peace be with you through the coming hours and days.

So much for my new career...

SHUCKS!!! Click on the link below:

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/80880152.html

Purple-icious!!!

Yes........my blog has turned purple. Today has been a very dreary January day in Western Washington. I stepped in dog poop at a house because there was nowhere to step in the yard that wasn't covered in dog poop. In the rain. And then I about blew off the deck of an ocean front house while trying to measure the exterior. It was just sort of a cruddy, dreary day.

Which made me long for Spring. So........I updated the blog to more spring-type colors. Love it or hate it? I haven't decided. But at least its brighter than dog poop. :)

So.......2010, huh?

Grant is watching TV across the room from where I'm typing this. Just as I was entering the title, the TV announcer said something along the lines of, ".....missed the grab there. I think that shows his lack of confidence......" WHAT THE HECK???!!!??? Of course, my "mom brain" immediately looked up over the top of the computer screen to see precisely WHAT Grant was watching on TV??!!?? Extreme skiing. Seriously.

I think that sums up my feeling of the last few weeks since I last blogged. Reacting. Behind the motion. Like most of you out there, the holidays were a whirlwind. But this year, they almost felt like they were over before they began. Tree goes in........tree goes out........ugh. I have my perpetual "to do" list still on my desk, and far too many of the items haven't changed in the last 60 days, which means they're not being accomplished. Hmph.

This year, with the start of the new year, the younger members of our family are going to experience some transition. Grant is moving from wrestling season to basketball. Tiersten will have a new first grade teacher, following the unexpected death of her teacher a few weeks before Christmas. And, at the recommendation of her occupational therapist, Jennica is going to take a 4-5 month "break" from her weekly private OT appointment. Grant will be fine.......but it means more evening commitments for us, as the basketball game schedule is heavier than the wrestling meet schedule. We have no word yet on who Tiersten's teacher will be, and I admit to being worried as to the possibilities. There aren't usually a lot of teachers looking for jobs in December, and the school is going to have a difficult set of shoes to fill. As for Jennica.....we've done a solid 13 months of OT, and Renae feels she is ready for a break. I was resistant to the whole idea in the beginning, but Renae gave us a few weeks to think it over, and I can see the validity of the points she made. So......we're not going to be making the weekly drive to Olympia for a little while. (Can't say I will miss that 3 hours on the road.) And, as Renae reminds us constantly, she is never more than a phone call or email away.

And then, in mid-January, Jen will be admitted to Mary Bridge Children's Hospital and "plugged in" for 48 hours straight for a high-intensity VEEG. Her previous sleep-deprivation EEG was normal, her sleep studies were just slightly outside the ranges of normal.......so her neurologist wants the longer EEG before he officially stamps her as "seizure-free." The seizure-free diagnosis would be great......and would be a further confirmation that her only diagnosis is Sensory Processing Disorder. Another part of me feels that, while very worth it, its a heckuva long road to a result of "normal" electrical brain activity. We'll see how I feel after the 2 days in purgatory. And then again, I feel like such a whiner when I think about people who spend months there with terminally-ill children. There is always always ALWAYS someone that has it so much worse than we do......I try to always remember that.

Dane left on a bus this morning at 6:00 a.m., bound for the never-ending Saturday wrestling meet. Today, he is 90 minutes to the north. He started the season in the 160-pound bracket......which is one of the toughest. Young men in the "little guy" brackets are......well.....little. Big men in the "big guy" brackets are sometimes chubby and unfit. But the middle brackets are always heavily stacked with athletic brutes that thrive on turning their opponents into human pretzels. So.......Dane has spent some more time than he would prefer as the pretzel. Dane occasionally threatens to drop a weight class in search of weaker opponents, but by state rules, each wrestler has a weigh-in/calibration at the beginning of the season with a specifically-qualified medical person, and Dane's bottom weight limit was set at 148 pounds (THANK HEAVENS!!!). He's not going to gain much by dropping just that far, so.....he's pretty much stuck where he is. We all have our opinions of what he should be doing to cross over to the "tougher" side, but he's ignoring us so far. So......again.......I remind myself with the lives of my children---"It is HIS journey." :)

Wishing you all the best in this new year of new opportunities!!!