Love Me Tender

Tomorrow marks the 30th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death.  I was planning to spend the evening at Graceland but that was before the heat wave set in.  There is no way I would sit out in this heat in that crowd of people tonight.   However, you can watch the vigil online and there is plenty of Elvis info out there to check out if you just feel like learning more about the King.

Our newspaper has a special online section  www.goelvis.com.

Then there is the official Elvis Presley Enterprises website www.elvis.com.   which leads you to www.elvisweek.com.

Those of us who live here in Memphis know about Graceland Too.   If you ever come to visit me here, I'll take you.   This article describes the experience perfectly.   I've been there twice and only need one more visit to get my lifetime membership card.  Seriously. 

ETA my friend Ted's website - www.epexpress.net.   He does the jumpsuit, the scarves, the whole deal.   Its a hoot. 

Larry King is here to interview Priscilla tonight at Graceland.   I think its on right now but will repeat again later this evening if you just feel lthe need to TIVO it.   I admire her grace and her genuineness.  She knows she will always be the wife of Elvis (even though they weren't married anymore) and she welcomes the public with open arms. 

Truthfully, I'm an Elvis fan.  I loved him as a child and I love him now.   I often wonder what music would have been like had he lived... if gansta rap would even be in existence.   Lisa Marie and Priscilla do a lot for the city and especially St. Jude and I know Elvis would be proud of them.   I'm just sorry drugs cut his life so short.   Such a waste.

Emergency!

It was a dark and stormy night .... ok, it was dark but not stormy... we're in the middle of a drought.  After several days of having to think to breathe, I finally convinced myself it was not the ozone layer making me feel that way.  I finally spoke up and told my mom about it as well as my friend B who is a nurse.  Both of them agreed that it was most likely anxiety and Mom mentioned I should probably get my blood pressure checked.  I had plans to see B that night and she promised to bring her medical gear.  Meanwhile, I had to make a quick trip to Target where I happened by one of those do it yourself blood pressure machines.   I sat down and put my arm in the cuff and pressed the button.    My blood pressure was fine and I made a mental note of my heart rate - 139.    I called Mom and spouted the numbers off and she didn't flinch so I thought I was probably ok.   I headed off to my friend J's house for the jewelry party and as promised B had her gear with her.  Immediately after the party she listened to my heart and I told her about my results from Target.  Her eyes got big when I said 139 and she said "well that's why you're having trouble breathing!  Your heart rate is too high!"   It was 120 when she took it which is still high.   She said I needed to keep an eye on it over the weekend and call the doc on Monday or else go to the ER if it bothered me too much.  The more I sat there and thought about it the more my mind race which I'm certain did not help my heart rate.   After a while I was doing the ugly cry and knew that I had to go to the ER or I'd be in a straightjacket by Monday.

I called Don and let him know that B was driving me home and would sit with the girls until J could come and relieve her.  We knew it might be a long wait at the ER, especially on a Friday night so I gathered up some reading material, took out my contacts, and Don and I headed on our not so merry way to Methodist North.   I signed in and told the front desk person what the trouble was and then sat to wait.   Not five minutes later my name was called.  I told Don to stay put since I'm sure they were just going to take my vitals and then send me back out to sit.   My blood pressure was a bit higher than when B took it but not anything dangerous.   My heart rate was still high though and next thing I knew I was getting set up for an EKG.   They put stickers all over my arms, legs, and chest and hooked up wires for literally 30 seconds.  At the push of a button the computer spit out the report and all the wires came off.   I had no idea an EKG was that quick.   The next step was to take blood.  The nurse tried my right arm but didn't have much luck so a guy named Tommy took over for her.  He's a firefighter that only works at the hospital 24 hours a month and let me tell you, he turned out to be my angel in disguise.   He explained everything he was doing while making small talk along the way.  His smile was so comforting and his bedside manner exceptional.  He took the blood and then loaded me into a wheelchair for a quick ride to the xray department for a chest xray.   After that we rolled back through the waiting room to pick up Don and as we were headed to a room, a guy fell out in the parking lot and there was lots of screaming and running and Tommy parked me in a corner and told me to wait there.  It was sort of a scary moment and I kept expecting to see blood and gore but all I ended up seeing was a guy being carried by several men through the doors.  It turned out to be a guy Don had just been talking to whose wife was sick.  We thought for sure he had just received bad news about his wife.  

Tommy was back in a matter of minutes and rolled me back to the "Chest Pain Center".   He gave me a lovely gown to put on "backwards" and told me to crawl into bed.   Then a guy named Barrett came in to hook me up to a heart monitor.  More stickers, more wires.   He told me Ed would be my nurse (what is it with all the guys that night?) and would be in to check on me soon.   When Ed swung through the door, Don says he was like a soap opera doctor.   He did have good hair but I don't think he was all that cute.  Tommy was cuter.  And had a better personality.   Anyway, Ed swung the door open, smiled, and said, "Hi, I'm Ed.  Haven't I treated you before?  You sure do look familiar".   Don is convinced he was hitting on me.  I beg to differ.   That gown didn't do a whole lot for me.   Ed said my gown was on backwards, I told him I was instructed to wear it that way, he laughed an arrogant laugh (I could tell he was thinking "stupid fireman") and said "well, you can put it on the other way... I'll close the door and let you do that"   That was the most adventurous part of the night.  We had to figure out how to get the wires through the sleeve of the gown and found it impossible without disconnecting something.   Don held his breath as he unplugged the monitor fully expecting bells and whistles to go off but nothing happened.  We got the gown switched, plugged in the monitor and settled in for a really long night of bad tv.    We made a game of trying to get my heart rate down and then I'd look up to see what the number was and watch it jump.   Somewhere in the middle of all of this, we heard the guy next door screaming in agony and once again we thought for sure he got bad news. 

Ed came in and took more blood and Barrett came in to take my blood pressure but I was missing Tommy.   I was trying to rest and relax and so was Don but he was stuck in an awful wooden chair and I was stuck in an awful hospital bed with a bar pressing on my rear end.  Everytime I sat up to readjust myself my heart rate jumped so I was trying to stay as still as possible.   After a while, the doctor finally came by to check on me.  He asked how I was feeling and told me so far everything looked good.  EKG and chest x ray were fine.  He just had to figure out why my heart was racing.  He said he was waiting on one more test and hoped to have answers soon.   Tommy came by to check on me in the meantime and said if they thought something was serious they would have called a cardiologist and I'd have all sorts of activity in my room.  He said "just remember, no news is good news".   Meanwhile, Barrett came in to take yet more blood as I thought "how can I have any left to give??"   We watched the time tick away .... 1am, 1:30am, 2:45am.  Finally at 3, Dr. Burch reappeared and said he was glad we waited for that last test.  Drumroll please.... I have hyperthyroidism.    He told me it was a good thing I came in because the racing heart could have turned into something called Thyroid Storm which is an emergency.  He said the good news is I'd probably lose a "bunch of weight".    He wrote me two prescriptions for a beta blocker and thyroid medicine and told me I could get dressed and go home.  I don't think Don has ever heard sweeter words.   He had yet to have dinner and when Don doesn't eat, its not pretty.  Of course we were both relieved it was as simple a diagnosis as that. 

So, I got dressed and we paid our deductable and zipped off to Walgreens at 3:15am.  It was a long night but it turned out ok and I have to say I've learned two lessons from all of this.  Ok, three.    The first is to always listen to your instincts.    My friends didn't think I needed to make an ER run but I just knew better.   The second, listen to your doctor.   I was told by my OB last year that I needed to come back in three months for blood work due to a low thyroid.   I never went back and now my thyroid is in overdrive.   If I'd just listened to her this whole event could have been avoided and I would have been monitored for the last 9 months and probably would have felt a whole lot better in general.  The third is you never know when you may come across one of God's angels.  Tommy didn't have wings and he didn't have a glow surrounding his head but I know my ER experience might have gone differently without him there.  He's only there three nights a month, if that.  When I think about that I'm overwhelmed.   I was lucky to have him take care of me and calm my nerves.   He may not have wings, but he's getting cookies.

Moral of the story:  Being hooked up to a heart monitor puts life into perspective pretty fast.  Make the most of every day.  Live life to the fullest and don't ever be afraid to say "I love you".    I love you.

Under the Big Top

We went to the circus this weekend and it turned out to be a very emotional experience for me.  Um, its the circus, Bets... what's so freakin emotional about a circus you might ask?  Ok, are you ready for this?   When I was 20, I became an honorary member of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.  No, I don't know how to fly on a trapeeze and I certainly don't know how to tame a lion.  I'd always thought about Clown College but that's not it either.

This is a confession of a Circus Bride.  Yes, I got married in a three ring ceremony.  I entered an essay contest on Why I Wanted my Wedding to be the Greatest Show on Earth and to my amazement, I won!   Brian and I got married right before a performance at the Mid South Coliseum.  He and his best man rode in on elephants and I had a horse drawn carriage.   We had 15 clown and 15 showgirls as our attendants.  Little did I know the marriage would be more of a circus than the ceremony was.  Oh, and for the record, we were the second non-circus couple to be married under the Big Top.  Unfortunately most of the pictures aren't great but you'll get the idea. 

Brian and his best man at the rehearsal... Brian is on the left.

The real deal...

The Bride

Hamming it up on the carriage...

This clown had the right idea!!

Don't you love the bridesmaids dresses?  LOL!!

Hard to keep a straight face when you're surrounded by clowns!

Off to Happily Ever for a year or two... if even that.... but the wedding sure as hell was fun!!!!!

So, that's my deep dark confession.  And yes, being at the circus on Saturday brought all of those memories flooding back.  The clowns, the showgirls, the elephants.... what a day that was!  The marriage ended after 10 years but I got a beautiful daughter from the experience and therefore wouldn't change a thing.

The Power of Oxyclean

Ok, I'd be the first to talk up the Power of OXYCLEAN! LOVE the stuff! I even have the Baby stain version. After a year of first grade, Kayla's school shirts are still white... the marker, the Kool-aid, the dirt and grass stains... all gone! Having said that, the commercials absolutely crack me up!

Random Lady: I have three teenage boys and when they come home from mudding down in the Wolf River I just don't know what to do!

Billy the Oxyclean Guy: YOU NEED THE POWER OF OXYCLEAN!

RL: But will it get out these greasy stains on white t-shirts?

Billy: OXYCLEAN CAN DO IT ALL! JUST DROP A SCOOPFULL IN WITH EVERY LOAD AND YOUR WHITES WILL NEVER BE BRIGHTER!!!

I mean the dude really YELLS... he sounds like his voice hurts too. And then there is the KABOOM! commercial. I've started imitating him around the house and Don laughs every time. I actually bought some KABOOM to try the other day and pulled it out of the Target Bag...
Me: LOOK HONEY, I GOT SOME KABOOM!!

Crack Me UP!

You know what amazes me?  That in two short years my sweet newborn baby who was totally helpless and relied on us for every single need now has full conversations, opinions, and demands.   I'm thinking about the process in general.    That we all start out so small but it takes almost no time for us to be relational and conversational.   Gracie is about to go get her first haircut at 11.  I told her about it yesterday and all night last night she thought it was time to go.   I explained that we'd go after breakfast in the morning.   This morning she woke up and said "we go take Sissy to school and then eat breakfast?"  I said yes to which she replied, "and then we get my haircut!"     We decided a bath would be good in between breakfast and the haircut so after she was done eating she said "i'm ready for a bath now".    I asked her to go get a towel (just the fact that she's old enough at two to know where the towels are and how to go get one amazes me.)   She brought one to me and said "is this one fine?"    She requests specific songs and knows if I sing them wrong.   She knows exactly what she wants for breakfast and exactly what she doesn't want.  I love to watch her stand at the refrigerator and say "hmmmmm"  as she ponders what she's hungry for.   She knows the difference between hot and cold, in and out, open and closed.   She knows her colors, shapes, numbers, & letters.   She knows how to name the members of our family... and that all four people go together - Mommy, Daddy, Sissy, Gracie.   I think about a two week old and remember how small and sweet and literally helpless they are.  Two years isn't that long to a 35 year old like me.   So to think of all that a human learns in those first two years is just shocking.  I can't think of a better word for it.  I wish we kept learning at that pace through life.  We'd all be geniuses by now!

This morning Don and I both woke up at 5am with a leg cramp.  He was saying "leg cramp leg cramp" and I thought he was asking me if I had one because I was crying out in pain.  He told me to straighten out my leg and then asked me where the cramp was and I said my calf... he said which leg.  I said my left... he said me too.  At the *exact* same freaking time.   So at first I laid there just thinking "how strange" and then Don said, "maybe we're supposed to go check on the girls".   We laid there about another 30 seconds and then did just that.   Both girls were sound asleep, perfectly fine.  Don went back to sleep but I couldn't get my brain to settle down so now I'm just plain tired (and my calf is sore).

What on earth do ya'll make of that??  Anyone have a theory??  We've been considering changing churches and Don said this morning, "maybe He's trying to tell us not to walk away".   Do you think God speaks through leg cramps???