You know when you are young, you are taught that you just don't run with scissors right? Were you also taught that you don't run on wet tile floors, especially when you are in the boys locker room and another teammate is chasing you trying to snap you with a wet speedo? Do not try this at home! Somehow when trying to avoid being snapped with a wet speedo he managed to slip, fall and twist his knee. We leave the game and straight to the ER we go. 3 1/2 hours later we are told that he has fluid on his knee, a sprained knee and that we should see an orthopedist! Great! Come Monday, we see said doc and he gives Xander a fancy knee/leg brace and beautiful crutches that we get to add to our arsenal of bodily injury apparatuses! Bob has decided that he is going to be an accident victim next year for Halloween to make use of all our ER goodies! Anyway, not sure if he has a hairline fracture in the growth plate as that doesn't show up on x-ray however if he is still in pain after Thanksgiving, they will do an MRI to investigate further.
Today, 2 weeks after the event, he is walking without crutches and I encouraged him to take the brace off as he has not moved his knee in 2 solid weeks, it is starting to atrophy and get stiff. Boy did it hurt when he took off the brace but after a few hours he realized that his leg was still hurting from no movement and that it is starting to feel more comfortable after getting some motion back in it. You see, I looked at the x-rays with the orthopedist doc and we were both in agreement that we just thought it was a sprain. So, the former wannabe physical therapist in me remembered some of the things I learned in college and think that my son will be back to new in a couple of weeks. He still has to stay off of it for the most part and no water polo until about mid December.
With that said, we went to church on Wednesday night 2 weeks ago because we had not been in forever midweek but with the injury, it was a perfect time to go. I truly believe that everything happens for a reason because while we were there Xander was asked by an old friend of mine (and upon recommendation from some other church people) to audition for a play being put on in our local San Clemente theater downtown, the Cabrillo Playhouse. Of course, before they could even get the question out, he was already responding yes. They could have told him that they wanted him to be Dorothy in the Wiz, he had no idea what he was saying yes too! However, the role if for Luther/Tiny Tim in the play Inspecting Carol. He had to audition and won the role. He is in two of the four acts, we are very proud of him. Had he not been at church that night, this opportunity would have never presented itself. So, starting Nov. 28 and running every Fri, Sat and Sun until Dec 16th, our ever so dramatic son will be performing in out local community playhouse. He is having the time of his life and doing a fantastic job!
Okay, let's see, what else is happening in the Grove family? I have had quite a few photo shoots, I'll post some of the pictures for you to see, I got my braces off! I feel like an adult again with beautiful, straight teeth! I am so glad I had them put on again, it was worth every moment of having to wear them. Oh, oh, Hannah was in a Thanksgiving production at school. They sang about 6-7 songs for the parents and then we had pie and coffee. She did a fabulous job and we are very proud of her. She also had her very last soccer game this past Saturday. It was a fun season and there team won all their games except for two (not that we are keeping score for the 6U teams, ;-))!
Last but definitely not least, the kids and I attended the memorial for Evan Cousineau this past Wednesday. He died just hours before he and his twin sister were to have celebrated their 10th birthday. He passed away from ALD, you can google it to learn more. It was a devastating disease and he had to endure a Bone Marrow Transplant, which was successful however he come down with the Adenovirus which ultimately caused his death. Before I tell you about the memorial, I encourage each and every one of you to sign up on the Bone Marrow Registry, you could possibly save someones life. The other thing is, please if you know of someone who is pregnant, please encourage them to donate their cord blood if they are not planning to store it themselves. The cord blood is vital to bone marrow patients (Evan received his transplant from TWO cord donors). If you do not designate that you are donating it, then it just gets thrown away and discarded. Donating it can save a life, friends do not let friends throw away precious cord blood, this is very important!
The memorial was absolutely unlike anything I have attended. It was beautiful and such a celebration. Here is a link to the Orange County Register's article, it is well written and the pictures speak volumes! http://www.ocregister.com/news/evan-cousineau-family-1922870-people-beach (video and slide show from Evan's Celebration) http://www.youtube.com/ search: evan cousineau(a little bit of Evan before ALD) (I will post a link to our local town paper when our own article is written as I was there that day in not only a personal capacity but also in a professional one. I was asked to photograph the event for the San Clemente Times paper. I was honored to accept the assignment. Here are a few of the pictures I took)
A picture of Evan a few weeks before he headed to MN for his BMT.
When someone dies that has been a part of the surfing community and they scatter their ashes at sea, all the surfers get together and do what is called a "paddle out". This is what you see above. About 100 surfers, ages very young to very old, all suited up and paddled out beyond the surf break, formed a circle and the father and family members were in the center. They said a prayer and scattered Evan's ashes, at which point they all splash water, say their hoorays and pay respect to their fallen friend. You also see a boat spraying water, that is a Lifeguard Fire Boat. The water they are spraying is like spraying a bottle of champagne, it is celebratory and done in honor of the person that passed away. It is really a beautiful tribute if you ever get to see one.
The entrance to the bridge down to T-Street Beach, just south of the San Clemente Pier. It was his favorite beach!
Everyone received a lei when they entered the beach. These were all fresh orchid lei's flown in from Hawaii the morning of the memorial. They were the most beautiful lei's I have ever seen!
I think that brings us up to date on our very boring lives as of late. Tomorrow, I am meeting my Aunt Amanda at the Long Beach airport to pick her up, have lunch and then take her to the ferry so that she can go to Catalina Island to spend turkey day with her daughter. She is flying in from New Hampshire so it will be good to see her. I last saw her in February. She is the only family that I have seen in the past year!!! Hmmmm???? Guess I either need to get back East or all you East Coast family need to get out here!!!
I should close for now before this becomes a novel.
Good night,
Kimberly
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