Wise Beyond Her Years

So, I was pulling into the driveway the other day and I hear this ongoing conversation in the backseat of the car...



Emily: Look, Lori is next door at Vicki's house.



Ethan: What??? When did Lori get a van?



Emily: Ethan!!! She's had that van for a while now. She took it on vacation this summer.



Ethan: What? I thought she had a car.



Okay, this conversation continued on and on like this as I pulled on in the driveway and made my way into the garage. It even continued after I turned off the ignition and started gathering my stuff and got out of the car. I could tell that Emily was starting to get disgusted with her brother by this point. He was acting totally clueless to his place in the world. As both of the kids had their arms full of their belongings and were making their way out of their respective car doors, I heard Emily mumble under her breath as she was shutting hers, "Papa was right. Guys really DON'T notice things."



Now up until this point I had stayed out of the conversation, but that comment had me laughing so hard that I just couldn't contain myself any longer. And Ethan, still clueless to his current surroundings, somehow made his way inside the house to seek out his Legos that were calling his name. Once I went in the house, I head straight for the phone because I needed verification that Emily's Papa did in fact give her this piece of sound advice about men. Once the laughter stopped on the other end of the phone, he did confirm this and then I had to share with him the story.



Now fast forward a couple of days to yesterday. Emily wore her hair in french braids to school. We were a little worried about if anybody would make any comments to her about the part of her hair that had been shaved because it was visible in the back because it didn't fit in the braid because it is too short where it is growing back in. So when I see Emily at the end of the school day I noticed that her braids are all out and I immediately worried that somebody said something and that is why she pulled them out. She told me that nobody said anything. She just wanted to take her hair down so it would be wavy. Well, at dinner last night she told me something very funny. She said, "You know, Papa wasn't totally right. A guy did notice something." I asked her what she was talking about and she told me that as soon as she took her hair down, she came back to class and a boy in there immediately commented to her how beautiful her wavy hair was. It was so cute to see her telling me this story. She was absolutely beaming with a huge smile on her face.



Onto a different topic. Yesterday at school the children who went up to the school during the summer and did the summer reading program and earned AR points were awarded with snow cones for their achievements. Ethan and Emily were among those students who were honored. Here is what I am so proud of. Ethan was the ONLY student out of his entire class that got to go and get to do this. There were several in Emily's that went. But I am so glad that Ethan was the only one in his class because he really needed that confidence boost. To be singled out like that made him feel so proud and he told me that he was extremely proud of himself. That made me want to cry to hear him say that!

Tomorrow is a very big day. It is Emily's EEG and MRI. Ironically, she hasn't had a headache in a few days and of course I start questioning myself and wondering if I am doing the right thing by making her go through these tests. I know I am, though, and will be reminded of that with her next headache. Since her EEG needs to be sleep deprived, tonight won't be very fun, nor will tomorrow morning. We have to try to keep Emily awake late tonight and then wake her up very early tomorrow morning. And then on top of that, she won't be allowed to eat or drink because the MRI is under sedation. Please say a prayer that everything goes well. I can't even say what I want the outcome to be. Getting answers will mean potentially more surgery and not getting answers will just mean her still suffering. Either way is a tough situation. Regardless, a few extra prayers would be nice.