That quote emerged from Bim earlier this week, causing me to point out that, if she thinks time at 13 goes quickly, she will REALLY not enjoy it at 43. Which is, of course, how old I turned last week. I knew it was coming because the body markers wrote it on my leg at St Anthony's, but still...
In no particular order of appearance, here is what is going on these days with Team DiPaolo:
Lim is basically back to normal academically in terms of grades and effort required. Unfortunately, she still has not gotten rid of the headaches and exertion induced dizziness. We've now tried acupuncture and extensive physical therapy, and she has made distinct improvements in terms of handling headache triggers. But the headache lives on. Yesterday she had her second round of trigger point injections in two of the nerves in the back of her head. These are VERY painful and very difficult for me to watch her receive (nevermind how awful they are TO receive...) and, like everything else, seem to help a bit but don't seem to be the magic bullet. Now, the Dr did say that, based on the results she has reported, the next shot should go into the C2/C3 joint. That would require twilighting Lexi and the use of some fancy equipment to guide the injection. After that, we are out of ideas.
She has resumed swimming on a limited basis and is determinedly stretching her limits with the goal of attending Gator swim camp in a few weeks. While she may end up being physically ready for it, I am not sure +I+ will be emotionally ready for it, as I still worry, a lot, about her. She wants to try running again, and, like everything else, I anticipate it being a difficult and slow adaptation to it. She has not given up hope of doing a kid's tri or sprint this season, but... We'll see.
So far she does seem to hace emerged from the C-Diff ok. I guess we won't really know for cErtain until her next round of antibiotics.
She has begun taking photography classes (tiny Lim and a classroom full of adults) at UNF and really enjoys it. We are planning to take all four courses, each 3 weeks long, this summer and I have spoken to the professor about doing some private instruction too. He thinks she hasan amazing eye, especially for someone so young, and the key to her development is her learning the proper technical use of the camera etc. This is foreign territory to me (artistic I am not) and he says he has never worked with someone that young, but... If she is truly interested in it and has a passion for it, why not...
So, the long and slow journey all the way back for Lim continues. It may very well be that the path her life takes in the future will find obvious roots in the past four months.
As for Bim - she continues to chug along. Five finals from now she will be a...high school freshman. Wait, she is only 13! Of course she LOOKS 18, lol. In general she is happy and focused on her school work and swimming. She decided to race the Meek and Mighty kid's tri searlier this month, probably mainly because her sister was not and she would not have to deal with her own compulsion to compare her results to Lim's. She proudly ran the entire mile run, and was happy with her effort. Her future will probably not include many more tris, although she is available to do the swim leg of anyone's relay ;-)
I sit bemused at times at how grown up she is becoming. As I write this we are sitting in Starbucks - me wity my ipad and coffee and her with her laptop and chocolate milk. She is working on a study guide for her history final tomorrow abd I doubt most people would believe she is only in 8th grade. The visible change in her demeanor, confidence, and happiness since last Oct has been profound... Although one of the few things that will change that is mention of or reminders of her biofather.
Matthew ia the planned subject of another blog, so for now suffice it to say that Matthew is doing very well and surprising himself (although NOT the rest of us) in his triathlon pursuits.
I am a boring topic. Let's just say that I will be spending a lot of time driving to and from, or AT, Episcopal this summer, which means I need to be very grateful that my children are not embarrassed by the sight of me running, swimming, or sitting on a bike trainer during practices. Both girls have practice from 7a-9a Monday through Friday. Bim will swim and do dryland with the Senior group from 2-5p on M, W, and F while L will do the same from 4-6p (yes, that means we will be there from 2-6p three days a week). Both have Sat morning practices and both will swim in the Gawd-Awful river city meets on Thurs from 4p until the last heat of kids swimming illegal breaststroke ends sometime around 9, assuming no weather delays. I don't know whether to ride the trainer for 5 hours during the meet or use those days as my "one day per week of alcohol consumption". Or both.
Throw darts at stay at home mom's all you want with regard to how easy we have it (training time included), but I doubt many would willingly trade for that schedule, lol. Time will tell if I can dredge up the energy AND discipline, nevermind keep the knees onboard, to actually have a chance to reach my IMKY goals. If not, oh well. Time is running out on my time with the girls, and my job is to help them identify and reach THEIR goals and give then as much positive momentum into their futures as I possibly can... And if that means sweating my ass off at the Episcopal pool 6 or 8 hours a day, and being a glorifief sherpa and shuttle service, so be it, lol.
...that's my why, what's yours?
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