Three Things

First, thank you all for your comments about my dad. I waited a few days to write because I was having trouble figuring out how to address it. It was a big, scary event and it affected me, and I wanted to share it, but we knew he was going to be okay, so I didn't want to be overly dramatic about it, but it was scary, but he IS okay... so I waited. We didn't really even know the story until my mom got out there Saturday morning and then, after reading her detailed account, I was actually more upset than I was when I first found out on Friday (the idea that he was in an ambulance, alone in Germany, thinking he was going to die, ripped my heart out). But I have good news- he was discharged from the hospital in Munich this afternoon and he and my mom are booked to fly home tomorrow. It's going to be a hellish journey- navigating the airport, flying from Munich to Frankfurt and then Frankfurt to Houston, with a broken sternum, a bunch of cracked ribs, and terrible bruising all over (most of it on his back and backside, making sitting incredibly uncomfortable), but I know he's anxious to get home and hopefully he can max out the oral pain meds. My brother is driving over on Thursday to keep him company while my mom goes back to teaching and we're planning to head over as soon as he feels good enough to risk being in the same room as two children under 5. I'm just... I'm so glad he's okay.

Second, my firm was closed today, as was daycare, so I spent the day moderately supervising my children and engaging in one of my favorite activities- cleaning out closets! After doing this for much of the Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks, you'd think I'd be out of closets by now, but every time I go through one, I find more to give away. Claire's closet is now down to a chest of drawers and the hanging items that she is wearing now and those that she will be wearing in the spring and THAT'S IT- not a single box, bag, or shelf item remains. I can't tell you how happy this makes me. I did the same with Landon's closet, the guest room closet, and the top-of-the-stairs closet that previously housed a random assortment of items that are now either at Goodwill or relocated to labeled storage bins in the attic. I also cleaned out our junk drawer in the kitchen, something that hadn't been touched since we dumped a box of stuff in there after our 2008 move, the hidden shelves in our study where we throw things through squinted eyes so we don't have to see the mess behind the doors, the hutch behind the kitchen table that previously housed birthday party decor, board games, art supplies, laptop power cords, and 2008 New Year's decorations and noise makers, and our jumble of dvd's in the entertainment center. IT FEELS SO GOOD. I packed up an entire car full of stuff for Goodwill, packed bags of giveaways for friends, and just generally felt 10 lbs. lighter. I gave JP the grand closet/drawer tour when he came home from work. He was appreciative, but he doesn't quite understand the post-clean-out high. The homemade chicken lasagne with homemade tomato cream sauce received far more enthusiastic praise, he just doesn't quite share my loathing for extra Stuff and the way it just sits around taunting you while it takes up space for no real purpose. And I'll admit, the lasagna was pretty tasty.

Third, while backing my car out of the garage this evening to take my "entire car full of stuff for Goodwill" to Goodwill, I backed directly into JP's car. It was a moment of breathtaking stupidity. I have a back-up camera and JP is always parked behind me and over to the right. The crunch of the metal felt exactly as bad as my previous 8 hours of cleaning felt good. My Highlander has some deep scrapes; his Sonata has a huge dent that messed up the alignment of the whole bumper. Fixing that (or, more correctly, finding someone else to it quickly so we don't lose a car for multiple days and without costing too much money in the month of our long-awaited ski vacation that I'm already kind of freaking out about the cost of) is now #1 on my to-do list for tomorrow. Ugh. Though, this close to my dad's horrible accident, I know to be grateful that my little incident will only hurt our credit card, even if I feel like a complete idiot for causing it.

Bonus fourth thing- behold, my somehow suddenly much bigger and more grown-up children as captured with my iPhone because despite my resolution to get back into photography, I haven't yet picked up my camera this year:

Landon, trying on his new ski gear, and Claire, showing my grandma her new laptop (which was a gift from my other grandma- we love having all four great-grandparents in the same building!).