My Take on Health Care

My grandmother is 95 years old. For a woman her age, she still does remarkably well. But, as Father Time marches on, she is slowing down. A few years ago she sold her home and moved into a retirement community. For the first time in her life she became a social butterfly. New friends gave her a fresh start and she loved it there. My mom and her sisters, in an effort to make things as easy as possible for her, got her a lift chair. Now she didn't have to use up precious energy as she got up and down during the day. It seemed like a great thing for her. Soon enough, though, she wasn't walking as far anymore. She was having trouble getting around her apartment. She fell a few times. And we all thought, "She is getting too old to be alone. Old age is catching up with her." So, she moved to a nursing home. They got her into some physical therapy and she regained her strength and mobility. All of the sudden, she was back to her old self. So much so, the nursing home gave her the boot! She had to go. She was doing 'too well' to qualify for nursing home care. She is now back amongst her friends at the retirement community and loving life again. One old friend is noticably absent in her new/old apartment, however - her old lift chair. You see, it became a crutch. Sometimes we have to do the hard things in order to stay strong. We can't skip out on exercise and expect to keep fit. The nurses at the nursing home let us in on this little secret. They are the ones who told us NOT to give her the old lift chair again. They said it killed more old folks than you would ever guess. Who knew!?

As I processed this new information I likened it to the current health care crisis. It is on my mind a lot lately. I found so many parallels. It is human nature to take the easy way out. But is it the best path to choose? Rarely. It is easy to say, it is everyone's RIGHT to health care. But is it? I don't think there are very many things that we have a RIGHT to. Anything worth having is worth WORKING for. And if you are simply handed a lift chair, before long you won't be able to stand on your own. Accountability is also lost in this shuffle. Should your health care costs go up because your neighbor smokes/drinks/is obese/chooses to use the lift chair instead of their own power to stand? I don't want to go assigning Americans 'lift chairs'. When we give the government power over our health care, we are giving up rights that we will want later on, and they won't be there anymore. We will lose choices.

I actually happen to LIKE my health care coverage. You rarely hear that anymore, but poll after poll suggests that the majority of Americans agree. I don't want to things to change for me and my family. And I don't see how that can be avoided if we are forced into this new system. I lived in a very affluent area for over ten years. Many folks there are already signed up with private health care. They pay huge fees for the opportunity to see doctors who have gone off the 'insurance grid'. They won't opt to be in this new system. The middle class will bear the brunt of these new premium increases. We'll be paying for all those folks who chose a life of 'lift chair living'. We'll all lose quality of care if we can't afford a way out.

So anyway, those are my rambling thoughts on this big ole hairy mess!

Kindergarten - The First Day

I left early to be near the front of the car line. I was excited to hear all of the wonderful things Andy experienced today. Here's the earful:

Andy arrived at the minivan in tears. A kid in his class (or not, this remains unclear) said he had a small head and big eyes. Or was it a big head and small eyes? Either way, it was a definite insult. Another kid overheard the insult being flung and told the teacher. Unfortunately, it was too late for the kid to move his pin. The next encounter with this kid will have Andy saying, "I would rather be ugly than rude like you."

Key told Andy (not while I was listening) that there was a volcano on the kindergarteners playground. Andy found that this was not true after searching every square inch. He was sorely disappointed. He also complained that there were way too many kids on this playground. "It was like somebody kicked an antpile and a bunch of kids came climbing out," a disgusted Andy reported.

Lunch, which seemed straightforward enough, was a bust. Andy was given two breads, a meat and a slice of cheese. "Was that supposed to be a hamburger?" he asked. He dropped this 'quasi' hamburger on the cafeteria floor but it did not fall apart and he was able to eat it. (gag!)

His milk was in a strange little box and tasted horrible.

He did not get fries. I pressed him on this because they were definitely on the menu. Key asked if he got those 'white round things with smiley faces'. Yes, he did get those. Well, Key explained, those were the fries. "Well, those things were horrible. I have never seen a fry like that in my whole life." (Have we not exposed him to enough?)

At least he recognized and appreciated the 'soft' chocolate chip cookie. There's somethin'!

He explained that he had 'a million of things' in his backpack and he had to bring it home everyday and he had to take it back to school the next day. He is fairly certain that that will never happen. He can't figure any of this stuff out! We discovered his folder in his backpack and found his homework sheet. He is supposed to take a picture of himself as a baby tomorrow and draw a picture of something he learned. One large and one small stick figure are gonna have to do on that part. I am not going to start helping with homework on the very first day ever! But we did find a cute picture of him in his yellow giraffe suit. Somedays I wonder if it weren't easier back then. Thankfully, back then, I didn't realize I would every say that.

Tubing the Green River

Hmmm, so we went tubing today. It was.....interesting, to say the least. The Green River doesn't have a descriptive name. If it did have a descriptive name it would be the Red Murky River. Maybe Mr. Green found the river and named it after himself.

The general idea, upon getting to the outpost, was to pay and put your tube on the trailer. Then you got on the short bus attached to this trailer for a ride upstream. I have to tell ya, most of these people were probably remembering riding a short bus to school at one time. Whew! I am even thinking that some of them were using this as their weekly bath. The girl by me smelled of BO, cigarette smoke and peanut butter. ICK! You could have grown a garden under her fingernails!!!! We felt as if we had crashed a redneck convention. Speaking of cigarettes, I think we were the only ones who did NOT have a ziplock bag with a pack inside.

Okay, enough of that. We get in the river. It is moving very slow. Except for Andy. Andy is half a mile downstream before we can blink. Then it got faster, we hit some rapids. Key gets tangled in some brush by the side of the river and flips off his tube. Then Key is underwater rapid riding. I snatch him up and into my tube. His tube is gone and so is his shoe. We'd just gotten started. Now I am very concerned about the blonde speck that is Andy! Somehow we all get back together and Robbie finds Key's tube. He is still scared and wants to remain in my lap. I convince him that me having numb legs will not benefit us in the least, so he gets off them and lets the blood circulate once again. Any rapid after this point send him into mild hysteria. At one point I am holding his tube with one hand and Andy's tube with the other. I cannot steer at all, of course. We got hung up on a rock and as I am scootching back and forth, back and forth Andy is saying, "WOW, look at that HUGE snake! He is HUGE! Mom, can you see him?!!!!" SCOOTCH SCOOTCH SCOOTCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think my arms are at least an inch longer than when we started. While holding onto both boys tubes we would get hung up on rocks and at one such impasse I think my elbows actually touched behind my back. I went over the rapid and they did not!

One funny moment was when Andy said, "Well, I've seen a bunch of turtles and that huge snake. Key keeps seeing lots of rabbits (rapids!) and I haven't seen any." He also said, after a particularly rough 'rabbit' that the first man to ever float down this river must not have wanted to live anymore. LOL

I did end up seeing one snake in the water with my own eyes so Andy might really have seen his too. I would have thought it was too cold for a snake but there he was!

So, anyway, that was our last-Saturday-before-school-starts adventure. Wanna go with us next time? :)

Florida

I can't believe I never posted about Florida. I think because we were gone so long and did so much that I felt overwhelmed with even beginning to describe it all. As always, it was awesome. We have so much fun there. We were either busy with old friends or not busy and pool/beach side. You really can't beat that.

Some firsts this year: all three kids flew on the trapeze. They all had a great time and were so brave! We also watched the 4th of July fireworks at the jetty. We are usually at a party at the Bay's house and watch the North Port fireworks. We took our beach chairs down just before dark and watched the whole show with our toes in the sand. Also, our Andy-man decided that snorkeling would be fun. He was underwater more than he was on top. He found a whole sand dollar, which is now in his collection. We also found a hermit crab and kept him for an afternoon. Oh, and Key got to drive his first boat! Our friend Jesse was gracious (and brave) enough to let Key take over the wheel. Key took everyone from snake island, out through the jetty and back. He still hasn't stopped talking about it. Thanks Jesse! Natalie got two new boyfriends at the pool. She is going to be trouble one day!

If you would like to view our pictures (there are way too many) you can see them here: www.GoodsonFL.winkflash.com.

Goodsons Head Toward Summer

Lots going on this summer for the family. We've already visited family for a few days. Aunt Bobbie and Big Daddy's house was our first stop. We ate our very favorite Mandarin Orange cake, as always. Bobbie, you shouldn't have but we are so glad you did! And we went to Chuck E. Cheese, which is becoming sort of a tradition as well. Thanks for the birthday presents and the delicious meals.

Next stop was Jim and Peggy's. Thanks to Mrs. Adventurer, Peggy, we now know the difference between a llama and an alpaca (it's the EARS!). We also got to see a really cool street that had topiaries in every yard. Very interesting! We shopped, we ate, we rested. Loved the new garden areas too. Don't work too hard in this heat though!

Next was our end of the season soccer awards night. Congrats Andy on another great year. Go Purple Paladins!

This week is zoo camp. This is the second year and it is starting out as fun as last time. Keep your fingers out of the lion's cage kids!

Next week our firstborn turns SEVEN. Doesn't seem possible and yet, how could we have only known him for seven years? We've only been parents for seven years. I don't really remember what being kidless was like! Happy birthday, Key! We love ya!

At the end of next week we'll be off to Florida. We have a beach-front condo in Venice for one month. We will drag this month out as long as possible. We have looked forward to this trip since the day we left last year. So, a big shout out to our best-est Florida friends...WE ARE ON OUR WAY SOON! We like to think of it this way, we still live in FL - we just visit SC for 11 months of the year. Oh, and we have decided that this is the year we'll take the kids to Disney. Just one day for now, to the Magic Kingdom. They are gonna FLIP when they hear the news!

I don't think we have any plans when we return from Florida, thankfully. I want to do nothing! That won't happen, as you know, but I will try to do as close to nothing as possible. Because soon enough I'll be back in that carpool line picking up a 2nd grader and my new kindergartener. Welcome to Elementary School Andy!

Natalie will turn FOUR while we soak up the Florida sun. That also seems impossible. She is all set for 4K this year. She is very excited about being a Furman girl.

Me? Well, I have a new job to look forward to this fall. I am the newest Arborist at Schneider Tree Care. I am positively thrilled at being back in the workforce, albeit on a very part time basis. Watch out trees, here I come! LOL

Robbie is still working hard and being a good husband and dad. We look forward to seeing him pull in the driveway after work each day. Some days more so than others. (Hey, I have three kids to deal with!) He has just finished his third year as pee-wee soccer coach. Thanks Robbie/dad! We love you too.

Memorial Day 2009

It started out misty, then rainy, and I had all but called it a day. But Robbie was more optimistic than me so he loaded us up and off we went to the mountains. Our first stop was the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education and the adjoining Fish Hatchery. The kids loved throwing fish food to all the trout. I used to work at the Walhalla Fish Hatchery and fed tons of that food to trout before. Fish food is not easy on the nose!

Then we made it up to Looking Glass Falls. Beautiful waterfall, probably the first one the kids have seen on that kind of scale. It is really high. We hiked to the bottom and everyone (except me) went for a walk in the creek below. Before long everyone had blue lips, blue feet and chattering teeth (except, of course, for smart ole ME). I was the photographer for the trip, you know, the one who'll scrapbook the memories to help them last. So I couldn't get in, really. I'm a peach like that! And with the mind-numbing cold, there is no telling if my gang will even remember this trip tomorrow. So, I had to document.

We finished off the afternoon with dinner at the Pisgah Fish Camp, that we found while looking for the Mexican place. Didn't see the Mexican place til we left the fish camp. But that was okay because it was a good meal and we eat Mexican so much that Natalie doesn't realize that the word 'restaurant' exists. We realized this as we were going in to the fish camp and she asked, "Do I have to eat the fish at the Mexican?" We typically head out on Friday nights saying, "Let's go eat Mexican." I guess we should branch out a bit more!

Then, dessert was enjoyed by all (except me) at Dolly's Ice Cream Shack. See, if you eat fish and ice cream on the same day you WILL throw up. Well, at least I will. My papa told me that when I was about 4 years old. I didn't believe him. So, after leaving the fish camp I insisted on ice cream. I threw up all night long. I have NEVER eaten fish and ice cream on the same day again. But I don't tell me kids that because I am pretty certain that this is a mental thing and not so much a physical thing - and I don't want to clean up ice cream from my van.

We are home now and my tired, happy people are all asleep. It was a great day! :)

I WON!

I won a blog award! My friend Missty has bestowed upon me the "Let's Be Frank" award. Now I am supposed to tell 10 honest things about myself. I tend to be brutally honest so this shouldn't be hard.

1) I hate winter and I can't wait for warmer weather to arrive. Actually, I would really like to pack my bags and head back to Florida and never see another 50 degree day for as long as I live.

2) While I seem to be in a gripe-y mood, I also hate car lines at the elementary school. If the prize wasn't retrieving my cute 6 year old I would never agree to wait in my car again. (Yes, I know, I have literally YEARS of car lines in my future!)

3) Unlike Missty who likes her dog.... I dislike mine more and more as time goes on, which is kinda hard to do seeing as how I never really cared for her in the first place.

4) (Boy, I am on a roll, aren't I?) Let's get something positive down..... I do love cats and we are going to be adopting two this spring! :)

5) I think boys are much easier to raise than girls. In fact, it seems natural, to me, to raise boys and completely other-worldly to be picking away at trying to raise this daughter of mine! Her terrible twos (which definitely extended into her threes) are getting better but I still don't know what to do with her half the time.

6) I do not like to leave the upstairs of the house in the morning until each bed is made, the humidifiers have been refilled, all clothes have been collected into one hamper (and is ready to be carried downstairs and put in the washer) and trashcans have been emptied. Then if I don't get back up there again it is at least clean.

7) I don't like English peas nor the sound of piano music. At all.

8) Traveling to new places is one of my favorite things to do. The farther from home the better.

9) One of my favorite ways to de-stress is exercise, especially yoga, pilates and Zumba. I also like to run, but that is hard!

10) I would take a nap every single day if I could. I can't. LOL