JESSIE'S VEGAS

It is hard to know if the experiences in your life are regular ones or perhaps irregular ones.  It is easy and perhaps erroneous to assume we all travel the same path, learn the same lessons and see the same things.  Working in the public sector for over 25 years, I am very aware that while people, in general, share similar hopes, dreams, and desires, the way to achieve these things is as varied as the patterns on a patchwork quilt. God weaves the design in our lives in expert fashion, bringing as many squares, or people, into our quilt as he can, thus enhancing,  strengthening and binding our quilts in his loving hands. The resulting quilt is colorful and vibrant. I work with some of the world's most trusted individuals.  In public polls, nurses always seem to be at the top of the list for one of the world's most trusted professions. Over the years, occasionally a person will ask why or how I have continued to work considering the needs of my family are so great....

I was talking to a wonderful doctor last week. He also married his high school sweetheart and they have a load of kids like us. One of the kids is a movie star in LA, another is a recovering drug and alcoholic.  Their youngest has autism and Tourette's. He said when he was dating his future wife in high school, he would tell her this,  "I am not dating you just for your looks", and she would get a little mad at him because she was a beautiful girl AND deserved to be dated for her looks. Years later, after they had married, when they received a late night phone call to pick their son up from jail, he said this to her, "I am not dating you just for your looks...tonight while we are in the mire together,  picking up our son from jail and after all we have been through, do you finally realize now why I married you for more than just your looks?" His wife cried, they hugged. For all the moms and dads that are in the "mire" together whether it is dealing wi...

Today is autism awareness day. I thought it was completely appropriate on a day like today that I was busy slamming Jessie's shoes on the concrete, trying my hardest to get out every single sand granule she feels in her shoe. We had traveled to the beach and I had completely forgotten her flip flops so she had been stuck with her tennis shoes. I remember one of our kids totally missing her first year of preschool because she wouldn't get dressed. All of her clothes bothered her. I cannot think of any of our five kids who have not at one point or another had some type of sensitivity issue to food or clothes. I decided all these "sensitivity" issues reminded me of the story of the "Princess and the Pea". It had been several years since I had read the story, so I decided to reread it today. I was curious to see what kind of punishment was exacted on a person sensitive enough to feel a mere pea under myriads of mattresses. I was amazed as I read the story that...