Confidence

What is confidence? Well, according to Marriam-Webster confidence is: 1 a: a feeling or consciousness of one's powers or of reliance on one's circumstances b: faith or belief that one will act in a right, proper, or effective way 2: the quality or state of being certain 3 a: a relation of trust or intimacy b: reliance on another's discretion c: support especially in a legislative body 4: a communication made in confidence. Some synonyms of confidence are: Assurance and self-possession. So, is confidence something that can be taught? Are you born with confidence?

Here is what I think. Confidence is something that you are given. As one who has lacked confidence (I know, you would never really have guessed this, right?), I have tired to make sure that my children have always had the confidence to walk into any situation and deal with it. This may be as easy as walking into a new classroom at the beginning of the school year wondering if you know anyone, or it may be as hard as walking into a crowded room knowing that you don't know anyone, but still walking with your head up high. I think I have taught my children that no matter what you have done or what people think of you, it really does not matter. The most important thing is what do you think of yourself. Are those people talking behind your back? What are they saying? Truth? Lies? Does it matter? Hold your head up high and own the situation. Even if it is as minor as having a new haircut that you are a little unsure about to as major as a "family scandal", have the confidence, the assurance, the self-possession to take the situation into your own hands.

Garrick and the Emergency Room

So, here is my story:

Garrick, Natalie, and I were at church a couple of Sunday's ago and Garrick leans over and says that he is not feeling well. He immediately goes pale and has beads of sweat across his forehead. I ask him what is the matter and he says that he is having some really sharp pains in his side and he thinks he is having appendicitis. I look down and he is holding his left side. I ask if it is the left side, he says yes. I tell him that the appendix is on the right side. He Googles this information while in church because, of course, mom knows nothing. After Google confirms that mom is not an idiot, I ask him if he can wait until the end of the first hour, if we get up and leave in the middle....well, it is just not good to do this. He says he thinks he can. About 10 minutes later, he is like, I need to get up and walk around....he does and comes back to sit down and says that he needed to the emergency room. We have like 5 minutes left, I tell him to wait and we will leave as soon as this part is over. He agrees. We leave after the first hour and come home. I take off my dress and immediately lay down. Garrick comes in and says...I need to the emergency room. I say to him that I think he needs to just lay down and relax and we will see how he is in a few hours. He Googles left abdominal pain and comes back upstairs and says that Google says he should be seen right away. I say okay, he leaves, and I throw just a little fit. I don't really feel like an ER visit is warranted. He will be okay...but being the GREAT mother I am, I take him to the emergency room. I do, however, have the foresight to grab my book on the way out.

We get there and it is not too bad. They call Garrick in to triage and get his vitals, etc. When they call him back, he tells me that he does not want me to go back with him. I totally respect this. So, I wait in the waiting room. I wait. I wait. I wait. People come in and they go out. I read. My hips starts to hurt, so I walk around. I sit and read some more. So, I figure we got there around 10:30am and now is it about 3. This really, really sick lady comes in. (Aside note here...I have a really weak gag reflex. It is something that I have always had...I cannot help it. If something looks gross, I will gag. If something smells gross, I will gag. If someone is even talking about something gross, I will gag. When my kids were young and were sick...I usually threw up too. I just don't do stuff like that well.) Anyway, this really sick lady came in; she told them that she had been throwing up all night. She came in and sat right, I mean RIGHT, next to me. I was like oh no. She smelled like throw up --- okay, I am starting to make myself GAG right now!!!. Suffice it to say, I could not sit in there one more minute! I go to the admitting clerk and tell me I need to go back with my son.

So, I go back with Garrick and he is all IVd up and resting comfortably. I sit in there for almost an hour with him. The doc comes in and says the blood work is good and she cannot find any problems with him. DUH!! I should have made him wait it out at home and saved myself $100!! She gives him a prescription for Vicodin (this is actually very good for me! I LOVE Vicodin!). She said that she needed the nurses to come in and do one last set of vitals and then he could be released. I can hear that sick lady down the hall and I tell Garrick that I will have to meet him in the car! Finally, about 15 minutes later, he comes to the car. Fun, fun, fun at the ER on a Sunday afternoon! We get home after 4.

I think Google needs to make this comment on every page "All information, of course, is subject to your mother's opinion." THAT would certainly help me out!

Curse of the Left Hand

So...my baby girl is left handed. This has been a "problem" for her her whole life. She says that I tried to change her...this would not be true. When she was very young, even to this day, when I set the table I put the silverware on the right side of the plate. She thinks this is discrimination, when, obviously, it is the way people set the table. She thinks the whole world is against left-handed people. Here are a few examples...First, she is doing a poster for school; she has used a marker to write the word "Titanic" on the top of the poster board; because of the curse, she has smudged the title. I know...too dramatic for words! Do you know that scissors are made for right-handed people too? Yes, there are "special" scissors for left-handed people. Something to do with the blade and the way it cuts the paper. Do you know that when you go buy a softball mitt, there are hundreds, yes, I said hundreds, of mitts for the right-handed person and only two, yes, I said two, mitts for the left-handed person? Fortunately, my baby plays softball like a "normal" right-handed person. I cannot explain this...the eye doctor said once it is a right eye, left eye dominant thing. So, when she plays softball, she plays like a right-handed person which she refers to as her "time of normalcy." I know...the drama is just too much here! Did you know, when you teach a left-handed child to tie their shoes, you have to do it with them sitting across from you? The same goes for teaching your daughter how to crochet...this must be done with her looking from across as opposed to her sitting next to me. This information, by the way, is NOT in the parenting handbook! Did you know that coffee mugs with cute with little sayings or little pictures are also made for the fortunate right hander? There are several more examples of the unfairness to the left-handed person, but the most important one is that Natalie says that left-handed people die younger. This is pure crap, but of course, she read it somewhere and therefore, it is a fact. Google overrules mom - every, single time!

(Thanks Natalie for the topic!)