Alter Ego

When I went to the library this week there was a paper with the title, "what literary character would you be?"  For some reason that idea has stuck with me.  Being the drama queen that I am I think it would depend on the day to know which character I would want to be and then there is the question I have come up with that wonders if a television script can count as literature.  I feel that that is a very legitimate question.  It would let me add in so many more alter egos.

Somewhere in my head I think I live most of my life in the early years of our Country in the South.  I am a total, wanna be, Southern Belle.  In fact that is where my nickname came from, just a little trivia for you all. I'm pretty sure that if we did have lives before this one mine was one of a nice Southern woman.  At any given time I can picture myself sitting on a large front porch drinking lemonade and wearing a lovely, elegant hoop dress with a beautiful matching hat.  My home would be one of the very traditional large plantation homes that would be surrounded by sprawling green lawns with trees and farther on large fields of cotton and or tobacco.  I used to watch Gone with the Wind a lot when I was young, that should help explain some of this.

There are other days that I am part of a good love story.  I could be any one of the characters from a Jane Austen book or most any other of the good love stories that I have read.  I am a hopeless romantic and love to read and see how each relationship comes together and how the whole story unfolds.  I love the Austen stories because they are so romantic and set in the beautiful English countryside.  They wear my favorite style of dress, empire waist dresses are the best!  They have elegant dances and parties (just like my first example) and are very proper.  I'm not to sure about having a complete life of luxury--some of the things that they do would drive me insane.  I would have to be stimulated more unless I go with the idea that if that is just what I'm used to then that is just what I would do.  I'm also not so sure about being too proper.  I have a feeling that I would struggle there as well.

Still with the love story idea I also love a good fantasy love story like Twilight or the more adult Fever Series. I can visit Forks or Dublin almost anytime and even when I do allow myself to get sucked back into one of those books my boys know I am gone for the duration.  None of the stories that I have read are really healthy relationships but then again they are fiction and just to be enjoyed.

Now to the television part.  If these can be included it would encompass what my real life is more like.  I love watching the Middle.  We fit into that dysfunctional family to some degree.  I have never missed one of my boys birthday's but there are so many other things that I can relate to.  Those feelings of frustration as a mother and wife when things just don't go right.  When something breaks and you just don't have the money right then to barely repair it let alone buy something new.  When life takes over and you begin to think that romance is a thing of the past (doesn't help when this happens just as you begin reading a wonderful love story).  It really doesn't matter how well I try to plan--if I try to put together a planned family day or vacation it all falls apart and nothing ends up as I had planned. I could definitely be the mom on that show.

Last but not least, as long as I can include television, I would have to be able to embrace the mom from Home Improvement.  Living in a house with all men, Jill is totally one I can relate with.  I am consistently surrounded by bodily functions, tools, and other forms of mayhem.  I love my guys but would appreciate some things to be left alone and as they came from the store (or dealership).  I would love to not be outnumbered during most all conversations and then have to listen to my topic switched to one that includes any number of bodily functions being laughed about.  As much as I love the laughter, the topic can get old (at least for a girl).  I guess my topics can get old for them also. They can get bored with clothes, hair, polish colors and new recipes.  I don't see how though :)

In the end, my life is so interesting that I should learn to enjoy my very own character and just keep sharing my own experiences with you all and maybe someday I will be able to put some of these ideas and stories into some kind of order and get my character published for all to read.  It would be really funny to see someone want to be this character.

Kelton's Owie

Last Friday night Kelton was at his friends house for their monthly Halo party when, during a wrestling match, he fell and broke his wrist.  Kelton has been very proud to have been the only one in the family to not have had anything major ever happen to him.  He hasn't had a broken bone or surgery or anything else ever happen in his life.  He has also felt a little left out because he doesn't get the special care packages that his aunt makes for everyone else or any of the other special attention that comes from having a medical problem.  

He finally got some of that special attention when he fell and within a matter of minutes his wrist looked like this (most of you probably saw this on facebook):

He had to wait the standard week before he could get his cast put on so the swelling could go down.  We are so blessed to already be established patients with 2 very good orthopedic surgeons.  I decided that I didn't feel right taking advantage of our relationship with Shriner's just for a cast so I got him in to see Kenny's orthopedic surgeon.  He is so nice and it was to throw him off a little.  When we got into the room to see Dr. Richards he came in and just looked at me and finally asked if he knew me. I said yes and that my husband is Kenny and that he did Kenny's surgery last month.  I love that we have such good doctors and also think it is sad that they all know me so well; even when I'm not the patient.

Dr. Richards told Kelton that for a normal wrist fracture you have to have a full cast that goes all the way up your arm but that since Kelton's break isn't that bad that if he promised to be good and not play sports or wrestle he would let him have a half cast.  However, when Kelton said he wanted a red cast Dr. Richards tried to talk him into a blue one (for BYU).  Kelton quickly said no, red for UofU.  After some bantering Kelton was informed that he insisted on sticking with red that he would have to have a full cast and a half cast on the other arm.  Kelton's face was complete shock.  I love doctors with a good sense of humor!

This is the sweet assistant who put on Kelton's cast.  I was even nice and asked before I took her picture.  She was even nicer and agreed to let me snap away.

This is the halfway point.  The assistant was wetting another roll to finish up his cast with.  I thought it was so interesting to watch her put the cast on.  Taylor's cast's are always done when he comes out of surgery so I had no idea how much went into building up the cast and forming it.

Finally finished!!  He got the color he wanted and only a half cast and yet he still would not smile for the camera.

Kelton is so lucky to have his owie only be a little fracture, it could have been so much worse.  He also only needs to wear his cast for a month.  He should still have it on for the next party so he should come out the winner of the next match if he will use it as a weapon :)  just kidding...that goes against his promise and he may end up in a full cast if he doesn't follow the rules.

My Dad

This week is my dads birthday.  LeRoy Mayo Shiflett II would turn 66 this week if he was still alive.  However, he passed away 17 years ago.  He died before either of my boys were born and I like to think that they met before I had Kelton and Taylor.  Both boys do things that only my dad could have taught them because he knew it would push my buttons.  There were a lot of things about my dad that wasn't perfect, but, even as bad as things were I look back now and realize that things could always have been worse (I have seen it this week with a father killing himself and his boys this weekend).  Even though he had a hard time showing it, I know that he loved us and was willing to do whatever he had to do to support us.  It would be really easy to focus on the bad and become bitter but I would rather know that those hard times made me who I am and to spend the time that I have remembering all the good times that we shared during his short life.

My dad loved to spend time with his family and spent hours doing service for them.  Later in his life he also spent countless hours serving our community through the red cross.  He loved to joke around and have fun, he had the best laugh.  He shared his love of fast cars, guns, racing, cowboy movies and adventures with me.  When I was growing up we would spend Sunday watching NASCAR and any war or cowboy movie.  He was the master of  the remote...he could flip between two or three shows at one time and not miss a thing.

He taught me how to handle and shoot a gun.  He taught me how to drive my first car that had a manual transmission.  He taught me how to do a tune up on my car (it was "required" before I could drive it, since I'm not patient we did the tune up in a snow storm. It was so much fun gaping spark plugs in the snow).  He taught me how to work on his race car, prepare him and the car in the staging lanes and how to guide him into the water box so he could do his burn out and stage for each race.  He taught me how to be willing to serve and to use forgiveness in my life.  He taught me the importance of doing genealogy work (I'm still working on incorporating that into my life).  He taught me how to tell a good story. After I was married he taught me the importance of tithing and was there by my side while Kenny and I got ready to be sealed in the Temple.

Before he was my dad, he grew up in a time when muscle cars were the norm and everyone had one.  He had one of the fastest Roadrunners that I know of (other than the one my uncle Ron had).  He was always a rebel and never missed a chance to push the limits.  Once example of this is a story that I heard many times that he would carry a cooler in the trunk of his car full of beer.  He would meet up with his buddies between classes and "enjoy" a beer before going to their next class.  He was a known tough guy and was not someone that would put up with anyone's crap (he would have said that much differently).  He loved his time with the guys and was always with his brother and best friend.  They had been together and joined at the hip since before time.  In fact my uncle and this friend are still close and do things together all the time.

Hunting was one of his other loves.  He would go hunting every year. They didn't always come back with a deer but they always came back with some amazing stories.  We would hear bits and pieces between hunting season and Christmas.  Then on Christmas Eve (our traditional family Christmas party night) over spaghetti and meatballs we would hear the real story of what happened that year and then it would be compared to other years and if it had been better or safer or colder or whatever else they could think of.  By the time I was 7 I could have recounted every story I had ever heard because we heard them every year.  For some reason the only story I remember now is the one where my uncle somehow drove his truck off a cliff (I never heard how large the cliff was but since they drove home I'm guessing it wasn't a large cliff).  Oh, did I mention that there was beer involved in that story as well.

If he would let you past that rough exterior you would find the most loving person around.  He also had a deep love of the Savior that he kept closely guarded next to his heart.  He did serve a mission to England for The Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints.  He was always true to himself and never would pretend to be something else just to make someone happy.  He was who he was and I will always admire the strength it took for him to always be honest.  I know that it sounds contradictory, that he liked to push the limits and be a rebel and at the same time was always honest about who he was with himself and with others but that was how he was.  He definitely grew as he got a bit older, as we all do, and I guess that is how it somehow meshes together.  How I can put his stories of how he was younger and how he was as he grew older and you end up with this amazing person who loved to have fun.

There is no way I could ever do his life justice in one entry so I think I will add a little something about him every year for his birthday.  My boys love to hear stories about their grandpa and so I will start to share them every year with everyone.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!!

I will always love you!