Our Story, Part 25 - Time Marches On

In the summer of 2001, I guess I felt I didn’t have enough to do, so I enrolled at the local university to finish my degree. I was still having a lot of pain from the endometriosis, so in July 2001; I had my fourth and final laparoscopy to remove any remaining scar tissue and adhesions to hopefully get rid of the daily pain I was having. (It didn't work).

This is one of my favorite pictures of the boys with their dad.

By the fall of 2001, I was in school full-time, working at a local hospital doing medical transcription full-time, being a mom full-time and trying to hold a full-time service position at church; the perfect combination of full-time overload so I didn’t have time to think about much except for what was pressing at the moment. “Going to school and working are just things that keep my mind off other things. It seems that if I don’t have a lot of things going on, I don’t get anything done. If I am busy, busy, busy, I don’t have time to stop and think and ponder over things that might hurt.” (From my journal)

I would drop Bryan off at school at 8 a.m. and take Cole and Preston with me to the university. We would park our car and take a shuttle bus to campus. I had a single stroller, so Preston would ride in the seat and Cole would stand on the metal stroller bar while I pushed. This worked great until it snowed and then it was a nightmare trying to push the stroller through snow, drop the boys off at their pre-school and make it to class by 8:30 a.m. GOOD TIMES!

The boys playing on campus with their dad while I took a test.

I met with Ruth in November 2001 for her Birthday and she told me that she had met someone special (she had actually met this person when Bryan lived with her in 1999). Ruth married in February 2002 and moved about a half-hour away from us. She and her new husband came to visit the boys in April of that same year and she brought them some presents for their birthdays. I was still in school and working like a crazy person (but that is the only way I knew how to deal with things). I knew Ruth was moving on with her life, but she and I still kept in touch.

In the fall of 2002 I started keeping a journal again for a class assignment and it brings back so many vivid memories of that time period! Bryan was in third grade and Cole was in kindergarten so Preston would come with me to the university and go to pre-school while I went to class.

Cole and Bryan in front of school, Preston being funny!

August 29, 2002
Catching the bus to go to school is quite a joke right now. I have Preston with me in a stroller, two backpacks and long line to get on the bus. So far I have waited for at least three buses to go by and I still haven’t gotten a ride to school. I am now late for my first class and I haven’t even dropped my son off yet. So much for coming early to school!

September 5, 2002
My job keeps changing. First I started out full-time, then part-time and then at night. The night hours are really hard. I work from 5 p.m. until 1:30 a.m. When I come home I can’t fall asleep… when I get up to get ready for school at 6:30 a.m. I feel as if I never went to sleep. I’ll be okay for the first few hours of the day, but by mid-afternoon when I get home and have to get ready for another day at work, all I want to do is sit and relax.

During this time in our life we also had a lot of stress dealing with material matters. Our car broke down and I was trying to get rides to school and to work (which was very difficult). We finally found an old black car that we paid cash for and it was a lifesaver! Also, Mykel's cousin's wife (and a good friend of ours) was having her fifth child and had invited Mykel to be present at the birth with his cousin so he could have the opportunity of cutting the cord and experience a live birth (since he wouldn’t have that opportunity with me).

September 12, 2002
Today I went to work at 5 p.m. and at about 1:30 a.m. Mykel called to say that [his relative] was having her baby. I came home from work and we woke up the kids and drove down to the hospital (about 1 ½ hours away). We got to the hospital only to find out that she had been sent home. I was starving at this point so I got some food (I still remember how good that chicken casadia was!) I also hadn’t slept in about 24 hours so I was rather tired at this point! The boys were all uncomfortable in the back of the car. Mykel decided to stay down with his cousin in case his wife went back into labor. I was so beat I could hardly move. The boys didn't sleep on the way home and they sang me songs to keep me awake. We got home about 4:30 in the morning.

September 13, 2002
Friday the 13th. Usually I am not one for bad signs or omens, but today was just one of those days. Besides only sleeping for 2 hours and then getting up to take the kids to school I was stressing about our car situation. I was on my way to the bank when I got a call from Mykel. He said he had called his boss to tell him he would be late and his boss told him “don’t worry about coming back.” So on top of not sleeping, stress about the car and work, etc. My husband is now out of a job.

Did I mention I also found out that Ruth was expecting?