So What the H___ Happened to Karen?

I can finally come clean because this story has a happier ending than was feared even a week ago. I last posted for Wordless Wednesday....and Thursday morning, I got a phone call. The afternoon before, my eldest niece (& god child) was hit by a car while crossing the street. She was in ICU. There were extensive head injuries and she had already had something like 100 stitches put into her. I truly was just devastated. That is the kind of news, right out of left field, that leaves your knees as weak as jello and your heart in your throat. Heck, I remember just sobbing.....

So it's been a long haul compressed into the past 10 days. I vaguely remember having a birthday party...actually, it was a really nice one--a big potluck here at the park on Sunday 6-13--and the healthiest distraction I could have hoped for....then back to the phones. My sister and her family don't live around here so the phones were critical for news and information.

I seem to recall on Monday or so, my niece went into surgery to have her arm repaired...metal was used to mend the upper bone in 2 or 3 places. The wait was still in progress for the swelling to go down in her face because there were broken bones there that needed to be set. Two big questions were still hanging in the air: was her brain damaged? was her optic nerve injured or possibly severed?

It gradually became clear that her brain was NOT damaged and I wept again, this time with joy! Then a couple of days ago, she went through surgery to reconstruct her orbital socket & have her jaw re-aligned, and has come out well. The problem with the eye is still not resolved. She can see "light" and the nerve is intact, but could be bruised or otherwise injured...maybe it will heal with time?

So she was released from the intensive care unit shortly after that surgery....and Saturday was moved to a rehab part of the hospital. I'm really, really encouraged and relieved enough to write this out. I just couldn't write anything about this while it seemed so dicey and intense yet it was the primary thing that was occupying my thoughts day after day....seems I was pretty distracted because I did a few pretty boneheaded things that have had to be fixed....nothing major, just stupid stuff. And I did fall behind on my orders because things just were not coming together for me here.

My niece is a very bright, very pretty young lady just beginning her professional career in botany, just into her first post grad job-a job she loves, and a position that is being held for her return....that was really fabulous news! I just heard that she hasn't looked into a mirror yet....and probably a good thing because her spirits seem amazingly good, considering the circumstances!! She's young and strong and hopefully will heal well and quickly, but this was just such a brutal intrusion into everyday life, so to speak. The power of prayer, I have no doubt, has nurtured and supported her recovery, and will continue to do so...coupled with excellent doctors and other medical professionals....and a big, wide-ranging family with folks of all ages pulling for her--plenty of friends, too!

Saturday was a good day and today will be even better, I can feel it!! My thoughts right now are about how capricious events can be...how precious every day is....and how miracles can and do happen!!

So back to the remainder of "my birthday month." I posted in my Etsy shop intro (but didn't get much further) that all purchases this month from my little shop....get a gift included in their order!! What fun for me, to try to figure out, based on the order, what earrings or other thing might be appreciated as a surprise...then to just do it and add it. Random acts of kindness?? Sort of...I explained it as "it's my birthday and you, dear customer, get the present...." It applies to orders placed until the end of June!

Thanks for dropping by....and remember to hug your loved ones!

Veteran's Day - Happy Birthday, Dad!

Captain H. A. Stahlecker, 1956

San Antonio, 1956, Army

Since it's Veteran's Day, I've pre-empted my usual Wordless Wednesday post to salute my father. Actually, his birthday will be 11-12 and we were celebrating it a couple of days early, which is how I actually have a current photo.

My dad was in boot camp in San Antonio and then was stationed in Wurzburg, Germany while he did his army stint. At this time, in the mid '50's, the cold war was ramping up in Europe. Since my dad was in the medical corps, and since they had to train and be ready for action, I remember his stories of how goats were shot up and then the corps would go in, do triage, and begin the medical work of saving lives. Thankfully, there was no actual battle time during our 2 years there. However, we did have a couple of elderly aunts who lived in East Berlin and so another story I remember was how my dad was somehow able to wrangle a way to visit them--the Berlin wall hadn't been built yet, but the partition was definitely in place!

My brother and I were really little kids when we went to Europe-in fact, my brother had just been born in San Antonio-and later, one sister was born on the base in Wurzburg. I do have very vague memories of how we used free family time to go camping and touring all over Europe--but some of these memories are helped because I can look at a few photos. At any rate, for me, the seed was planted--not to go into the Army, but to serve my country in different ways, especially in Europe, as a sort of cultural ambassador as I would eventually return to Europe as an artist representing the U.S.A. At some point, I hope to share some anecdotes of my adventures in Eastern Europe as the Berlin Wall fell and Germany began to reunite, during the "Velvet Revolution" in Czechoslovakia, and as I mentioned earlier, working in barely post-communist Poland. But not today....

Today, it's about the armed services and Dad stayed in the Army reserves forever it seemed--they always needed to keep medical personnel at the ready. He's retired from almost everything these days, but last night, we got together to celebrate his 81st birthday and so I'm including a photo we made of me with my Dad and my brother. And today, we salute all our veterans, give thanks for the service they have given, the sacrifices they have made, and the pride we feel in all of these fine men and women who have served to make America the home of the brave and the land of the free. I salute you all (with love!) And Dad? Happy Birthday to you!

We'll return to our regularly scheduled Wordless Wednesday-next week....