Well.
It’s funny how things work out. Or don’t work out as the case may be.
As it turns out, I didn’t end up spending my Saturday morning in the 33 degree weather watching Caroline play soccer.
Mainly because this happened on Friday afternoon.
She turned into the Terminator.
Actually, that’s her foot. In a boot.
Which I like to say in a Canadian accent.
Even though the only time I’ve actually been to Canada was a quick trip to Vancouver back in 1999 and all I saw was the inside of a Hilton because it was for a pharmaceutical sales meeting and it always seemed they had a strict policy against allowing us to actually see the city we were visiting.
So basically what I’m saying is that I’m just making a complete stereotype that Canadians really say “A boot”. And you should also know that my sense of humor was totally lost on Caroline as I kept saying, “You’re A Boot to get A Boot”.
But considering this is the face she made when I asked her to smile for the camera, I don’t feel like she’s in a position to judge my Canadian humor.
Clearly the big question is what happened?
Yes. We don’t really know for sure.
For the last week Caroline had been complaining about her ankle. And so she’d come home from school and we’d put some ice on it and take an Advil. (Yes. We would take an Advil. One for her, one for me because the whole ankle thing was making my head hurt because I wasn’t sure what to do about it since there’d been no definitive injury.)
Finally P said I should probably take her in to see the doctor. So I picked her up from school early on Friday and we went to the doctor so we could shell out any money we hoped to save for something fun on X-Rays and an exam.
As it turns out, she has a fractured growth plate. Which sounds a lot worse than what it really is. The truth is it’s a kid version of a sprained ankle, but kids still have soft growth plates to allow their legs and arms to grow to normal size because ideally no one wants T-Rex arms.
However, these growth plates can be traumatized (Can’t we all?) and that is what happened to Caroline at some point during soccer practice or jumping down repeatedly from the tree in our backyard or while trying to do flips off the monkey bars at recess. There is really no telling.
But she has to wear the boot for two weeks and keep it immobilized.
Which translates to no soccer games for two weeks.
However, she and P still went to the game on Saturday morning to support her team. I did not feel called to such dedication and showed my support by staying in my warm bed until I woke up at 9:45 a.m. and watched an old episode of 90210. I felt like it was the right decision.
They came home around 11:00 with breakfast tacos because they’d missed the chicken biscuit at Chick-Fil-A by six minutes. Which is almost just cruel. P asked me why I didn’t run over to Chick-Fil-A to get us all biscuits and I had to wonder what alternate universe he has ever lived in where I get out of bed on a cold Saturday morning even for a chicken biscuit. We’ve been married almost sixteen years and I feel like he should know me better than that.
But the breakfast tacos were delicious and seemed a fitting choice since Saturday was Texas Independence Day. And while we didn’t want to be a part of Mexico, we are certainly grateful for their food.
Then Saturday night P grilled quail and we sat outside and listened to Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. And looked at the stars in the sky and made a toast to all things Texas.
God bless it. It’s a boot the best place on earth.
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So maybe that’s what happened to me! A fractured growth plate as a child that went undiagnosed that led to me being only 5’2″. Which now totally explains why my BMI is less than desirable ’cause I was supposed to be like 5’11″. Mm hmm..makes sense. Thank you.
p.s. Hope your daughter’s plates heal up nicely!
Mindy
http://www.thesuburbanlife.com
I literally snorted at this, “Which now totally explains why my BMI is less than desirable ’cause I was supposed to be like 5’11?. ” I am 5’2″ and I just tell people my life goal is to be taller than I am wide.
I never regret our decision to have three children until I hear you say things like, “I slept until 9:45 on Saturday.” That’s just cruel. : ) My youngest is 11 months. It’s gonna be a long time until 9:45 on Saturdays.
Ugh! Your poor girlie! She does, hower, make the boot look good!
And yes…Texas Forever! Alas, I’m in rainy Seattle.
I hate to tell you this, but the exam and x-rays were nothing compared to what you got charged for that boot. I have two of them (one for each foot) and the cost at the orthopedist office was over $400.00 each! However, they do a good job of immobilization and are really easier than a cast. And just in case Caroline has a swell vacation planned, be sure to deflate the air baffles in the boot before flying. I learned the hard way that pressurizing the airplane cabin can make those things swell and cut off circulation. Who knew?
Here’s to quick healing and Texas Forever!
God Bless Texas! (Never been to the US, but hubby and I are planning our Great American Roadtrip for next Summer, and Santa Fe, Austin and Dallas are all high on our to-see list!)
Those boots are no fun. I earned mine while falling down the stairs around Christmas time. It looked PERFECT with my black lace-y dress. Although I did get out of bath/bedtime for a good 3 weeks. Actually, maybe I kinda miss the boot… hope Caroline heals quickly!
Poor Caroline, I hope that the 2 weeks go by quickly. When I was young, I was such a kultz, and perpetually had a cast or splint on one of my arms — it’s all fun in the beginning, when everyone wants to sign your cast, but that gets old VERY quickly! Thankfully it’s not a break!
And I don’t hear this BOOT business all you American’s seem to hear!!! To me, we Canadian’s say it just like you all do, however it has been pointed out to me, so I guess it must be true, eh?
Oh, that ” A Boot” thing is so very true!! and I was born in Canada so I have a bit of allegiance, but that accent drives us nuts up here in Alaska when they hire Canadians to do the local news on TV. It’s all “a boot” and “oat” for out and Proa-ject for Project and yadayadayada. I think the stations forget we’re not in Canada. And I do love my Canadian relatives to pieces—-but the accent on our news programs drives us a bit nutty, yes indeedy.
We attended an international church in Kyiv and there were a lot of Canadians, and it always tickled me to hear their accent (of course, I had an accent, too- so different when you’re the foreigner in a country!)! My son broke a growth plate while we were home from overseas visiting. We were on the road and he did something in a McD’s playground slide and the short of it is, he got a cast. Shelling out $30 for a waterproof cast was the best $ spent that summer! Unfortunately, when we got back to Ukraine, the doctor botched the cast removal and my son left with stitches. I have some quail in my freezer that my dad and husband got in December that I’d gladly pass on to you…not a big fan.
I’m one state south of Canada in Minnesota. Our pastor’s wife is native Canadian. Yes, they say “a boot”.
Bummer about her injury. Good luck keeping her in that thing. I’ll be praying for you!
On another note, I’ve traveled all over the country going to sales meetings. They NEVER let you see the outside. Why spend all that money if we can’t get out? I have a theory that we are really part of a traveling zoo and we are the animals locked in glass cages. Somehow, something is watching us and tapping on the glass and laughing…
Sorry about the boot- no fun.
You already had my heart after reading your book. I felt like you were writing my story as well. But now…. 90210!!!!!! Girl, you even know my soul. Best Saturday TV watching.
I know that you were sad to miss the game—NOT! When the newness of the boot wears off, like now, Caroline can make it more fun by decorating it with duck tape. When my Danielle had a boot last spring, we basically ‘wallpapered’ it with two different kinds of fun duct tape. We had polka dots and butterflies. It was ridiculous looking, but so much more fun than boring gray
that poor girl. my husband limped around for days and when I finally locked him out of the house and said he couldn’t come home until he had gotten x-rayed (not really) ended up with a stress fracture in the bottom of his foot. We still have no idea how it happened. So in that years Christmas card I had a child who had just become paralyzed and was in a wheel chair, a (nearly) two year old in a full leg cast. He had broken it on the slide at church and then my husband in A BOOT. It was a great year for a picture. (cue eye roll) I laughed alot that December. I mean with all that crazy what else can you do. lol! Hope she isn’t hurting too much!
Oh sweet Caroline. Hope your two weeks pass quickly. When I was a kid, when my son was a kid and even when I was adult and had to get a cast it was that white plaster thing. So uncomfortable. And itchy. I recently saw an adult woman who had that type of cast on. Said she was allowed to take it off to shower. Huh? I have visions of Caroline lying on the couch being waited on hand and foot. “Mom, I want some chicken biscuits!” Are they as uncomfortable as the casts of old? Yes, you are correct about the Canadians. It’s “a boot”. And other words like water.
I thought the first picture was you! And marveled that you had the foresight to wear gym shorts and leggings to the doctor’s office to get a foot cast that looks like something out of Star Wars. And be jealous of your slender legs. Kids….not for the faint of heart. P should get some sort of award. Any Dad who would go out on a Saturday morning to a soccer game they didn’t have to is some kind of hero.
I feel so blond. I didn’t get the “a boot” thing until the last sentence. Duh!
But, I’m with you about knowing when to and when not to take them to the doctor. My nephew fell skating and his mother, who is a nurse, said we’ll just put some ice on it and take some ibuprofen and watch it. Well the next morning when it was hurting worse and my nephew was not his normal chatty self, she thought there may be something to it. Went to the ER (of course he did this on a weekend) found out it was broken. She felt awful, but of course took the opportunity to explain about crying wolf.
Hope Caroline’s fracture heals nicely.
So. This has nothing to do with your post- although I know some Canadians, and they do say “a boot.” ANYWAYS, I just wanted to tell you- mostly because I figure this will be a new one for you- that I turned into a prune last night while reading your book. Yes, a prune- you know those shriveled up ugly things old people drink to keep themselves regular. ANYWAYS- I did. I took what was supposed to be a quick hot bubble bath to warm up (I live in Chicago. It was cold.) and took Sparkly and my Dr. Pepper with me- because I like to pretend I’m from Texas drinking as much DP as I do. ANYWAYS- 2 hours later (and after I probably had peed a little in the tub from laughing so hard- which is as gross as it sounds but no different than swimming in a baby pool just minus the chlorine) I had turned into a certifiable prune. However, the fruit I gained from reading Sparkly was well worth every weird wrinkle I didn’t know I was capable of having- I’ll be using lots of cold cream to avoid ever looking like that in real life. My kids are 21, 20 and 16 + my two sweet babies who have been with Jesus for 17 years. You took me back to places that… well just back… and it was sweet. Thank you! I will be sharing Sparkly with every mama I know. And I know lots! I will pray for you and your sweet family as I go along- and Gully’s too because God knows friends like that need as much prayer as we do. Sweet blessings from someone who is glad being a prune doesn’t last forever.
I think it’s hilarious that all you Americans think we Canadians say “a boot”… Personally, I don’t know any Canadians that say it that way… I tend to think it sounds more like “a boat”! We all think its the British who say it “a boot”!
But, I Am from Southern Alberta… right in the middle of the wide open prairie and it’s very possible that the coastal regions have an accent like that! Or maybe I just don’t hear it like you do… also a very real possibility! Anyways… laughing over here 
I agree! I always thought it sounded like “a boat” also when I hear my husband’s co-workers say it.
P.S. I’m from Memphis… what do we sound like? haha
Waylon and Willie – there will never be two great Country Music artists like them. I loved Merle Haggard just as much, but couldn’t show it because whenever we said his name, we’d giggle. It just rolls off the tongue funny-like, doesn’t it?
Funny story( I think!). we live a little south of nashville.My son played baseball for years, and when he was 5-8yrs old, he played for a coach that was carl smiths son(also an older country legend). Anyway, carl smith would be at just about every game, and sometimes would bring some friends. so one time one of the teammates was walking past them to get something from his mom, and he looked at the man and said “cool boots” The man said “thanks” The man was Waylon Jennings! hilarious, we still crack uo about that! kevin had NO CLUE!
Willie and Merle…sigh….Pancho and Lefty? Yes, please.
“And while we didn’t want to be a part of Mexico, we are certainly grateful for their food” –truer words were never spoken.
God Bless Texas! I love reading your blogs ’cause they make me feel so less guilty about my own mothering skills:) Mind you, I just turned 60 last month, and my baby is 22 and this is her first year teaching High School English. Yes, we had a mid-life surprise, so beware! (Her sisters are 32 and 30!) And I had a brain tumor when they were 3 and 1 and we were told we “couldn’t have” any more children. When I went to OB/GYN several years later for presumably early ‘change of life’, and he said “oh what a change of life” I was less than amused and reminded him he said I “couldn’t have” just a few years earlier and he replied “I meant to say you “shouldn’t have”! BIG DIFFERENCE! Anyway, my husband operates on 4-5 hours of sleep per day, and I require 12-14, not that I ever get them, but I do require them. While I never missed one of those early Saturday morning games, I so would not have joined to merely watch other kids play:) But I feel my dear hubby of 38 years is always thinking I’m lazy, instead of just concerned about my health – they do now say 10+ hours is best! YEA! See I think I might be your long lost big sister:)
Just thanks for making me smile everyday…even a day when your daughter goes to the hospital! I started smiling just reading your title!
Melanie,
I’m so sorry to hear about Caroline’s ankle. I’m going to pray for her right now! “God, I pray that Caroline will see the Lord always before her. Because You are at her right hand, she will not be shaken. Therefore her heart is glad and her tongue rejoices; her body also will rest in hope” (Acts 2:25-26).
Warmly,
Danielle
Oh girl! I’ve been there. Last April, a few days before we moved out of our house to go to Arizona for 5 months, I stepped off a curb, rolled my left ankle & broke the base of my fifth metatarsal (that’s my pinky toe…the base is way down on the side of my foot). I had to wear a boot for 10 is weeks (moving cross country in a boot & crutches is FUN! ) It’s been nearly a year & the fracture never healed properly, I have to get steroid shots on Wednesday & will eventually need surgery to remove the bone spur. So tell Caroline I feel her pain!
Praying for healing and comfort for Caroline’s ankle!
Poor Caroline! At least it wasn’t in the summer during swimming season…
The whole “aboot” thing still makes me laugh!!! I was born, raised and still live in Ottawa (the capital of Canada) and in my early 20′s I traveled to the States to serve in ministry that traveled around doing retreats for youth. After two 12 hour days of driving, trapped in a van with strangers that would later become teammates, we arrived in St. Paul quite late at night.
As we walked into the ministry centre, hundreds of folks started calling out “The Canadians are here! The Canadians are here!” Completely overwhelmed, we huddled in a corner while person after person came forward and introduced themselves by saying, “Hi, I’m _________. Say OOT and A BOOT! Say OOT and A BOOT!
Annoying at the time, I now laugh at the memory. For the record, here in Ottawa, we say out and about. No boots here, unless you’re talking about the ones on my feet.
HOLY. SMOKES. I ordered your book on my Kindle and it is SO great! It would be completely read by now if it weren’t for my two kids and huband needing to be fed and and wear clean clothes and such. It is so funny that I am laughing outloud. Thanks for making me not feel alone in this motherhood thing. I get the April pick for my book club & I’m picking yours!
I finished your book just now. FABULOUS
I laughed out loud like 20 times…and smiled (a lot) and even cried at the end. Thank you!
Hope the two weeks go by quickly and Caroline heals nicely.
Unfortunately I had to endure a cold drizzle (at the beginning), and frigid temps on Saturday at my son’s T-ball practice. It was miserable. Those poor kids were ready to go before it even started. Needless to say it did not make a great first impression on my son.
Please go to the first picture you posted with the boot – and imagine when I saw that I had not read that it happened to Caroline. I thought something happened to you, so I was looking at those VERY thin legs, and I was shocked that you would EVER write about not fitting into clothing since it looked to me like you might be anorexic. So, imagine my relief when I read that it was Caroline : ) Truly hope she heals well. Love your blog. You make my day with your insight and comments. Love, Kathleen