It's the nature of the experiment...It's the patterns of my temperament...

Ah, me...(sigh). Well, I mentioned the wisdom teeth pulling in my last blog. As of this Tuesday they are gone forever...alas, poor wisdom teeth, I knew you well (no disrespect to Shakespeare)! They gave me Vicodin for the pain...something I had not experienced before...usually I get Tylenol w/ codeine for these sorts of things. It definitely makes you feel fuzzy although why anyone would want to use it as a recreational drug is beyond me...just not all that exciting, folks. They actually made me feel kinda nauseous. I'm having fun with the "soft foods diet" as well...maybe I'll lose some weight (one can dream, right?). It feels pretty funky...I have stitches so it feels like I have something permanently stuck in my back teeth. Sure hope that feeling goes away soon or it will drive me crazy!
Had a fun (not) incident tonight with my daughter. She's only had her driver's license since the spring and is still a bit unsure of herself...especially in nasty weather. We had a tornado watch and high wind warning tonight so I had no plans to be out in it. Well, you know what they say about best laid plans. My husband had a meeting tonight and called to say he had accidentally locked his keys in his car and wanted my daughter to drop them off. She was out so as soon as she got back we headed out...I went with her because I knew she would never find the library (where the meeting was held) by herself and in the dark. So...she's nervous already and I am in a pain killer stupor (see above). About five minutes into our drive the wind starts blowing like crazy, the rain starts pouring down, you can see the gusts swirling it around, it was so heavy! It got to the point that you could see nothing through the windshield...and THEN...objects start flying across the road in front of us!! My daughter became completely hysterical because not only could she not see the road at all, she was certain that we were in the middle of a tornado. This became one of those "mom moments"...you know the ones where you'd like to be hysterical too but you know that you have to be calm for your child? I kept speaking to her in the calmest voice I could muster...and prayed silently inside my head at the same time. Thankfully we got to our destination intact...definitely not an experience I would want to repeat! Unfortunately it doesn't end there...my daughter was so freaked out that she refused to drive home so therefore I had to despite being completely fuzzy with painkillers coursing through my veins. Luckily, I was so freaked out myself that I think all the buzz from the painkillers disappeared...thank heaven for adrenaline! Under normal circumstances I would never drive under the influence of anything, but if I had not I would have been sitting in the library parking lot at this very moment!

You know I used to wonder how my mother used to stay so calm during my (and my sister's) accidents, "freak outs", & emotional moments when we were growing up. Maybe she was actually silent freaking out inside too but just knew better than to show it! I guess it is something that develops over time...you learn to be strong...I think it is a gift that God gives to mothers. Otherwise, I would be freaking out right along with my kids! I never thought I would develop this skill (not that I don't still freak out on occasion), I know I'm still learning...at times I have to repeat "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" over & over (and take a lot of deep breaths as well). I can't tell you how grateful I am to God for helping me learn these "mom lessons" even though my children are nearly grown!