8/31/22 MRI Time?

     Well, I hate that we are here, but at least we live in a time where we have the technology to look inside without committing to surgery.  Mijo and his knee seemed to be doing okay, he hadn't complained, and we ask him about every day how it is feeling.  It was therefore surprising that I got a text from his trainer on Monday that she did not think his knee was improving.  She herself was out for a week, so maybe he hadn't worked with her for a few days, but she came back this week and started him on new exercises and he was unable to show motion with the knee without wincing in some pain.

    Her belief is that he should be showing signs of improvement by now.  Honestly it has been a month since we saw the specialist, so he has had about 6 weeks since the event that caused the injury.  About the only thing we can do at this point is do the next thing suggested by the specialist and that is look at the knee with an MRI tool, which will look through the skin and show any damage to the muscle/tissue around the knee area.  I hate that we are here, but the doctor did give us a sliver of hope, if nothing is damaged and it is still just the bruise, he might suggest a cortisone shot, which is another name for a steroid shot.

    What I understand is that the steroid shot would numb the pain, so he could use the knee like he normally would and not feel the pain and back away from it.  I am guessing if it is a tear, he would not do this, but with a bruise, there is no further damage he could do, it is just the pain receptors getting in the way, not that I am an expert.

    We have to wait until tomorrow for the results.  The MRI was done rather unorthodox, we were scheduled at 7:30am.  I wasn't sure whether I would go in with him, so I got up at 6:00am and showered.  Had I known I would just sit in the waiting room outside, I wouldn't have bothered.  Mijo said the procedure was easy, he just laid there and almost fell asleep as the machine did all the work.  He was probably in the room for about 30 minutes.  He came out just in time, some idiot lady had her "service dog" with her in the waiting room, but she let go of the leash and he walked all around the room, at one point coming and sniffing me.  It was a big labrador too, I was expecting it to dump a big ole shit on the floor, she just looked like that type of lady.

8/30/22 My Own Handyman?

     Like I said a couple weeks ago, if it's not one thing around the house, it is another.  Last week, I was dealing with the dryer vent getting plugged up and making the dryer not want to work.  As soon as I cleared the ducts of all the wadded-up lint that had collected up over the years, we moved in 2007 and I had never cleaned it, the dryer started working properly.  We had been running two cycles of drying with every load since the machine was new.  Because it was a cheap machine, I assumed it was the best it could do.  Not that I usually buy cheaper tools, but after spending $1200 on a fully automated dryer with all the bells and whistles and it barely lasting 3-4 years, I was not going to do that again.

    Anyways, the new problem appearing was the light in the closet of Mijo's new room, or Boy's old room.  When we were moving him in, I noticed it flickered a bit.  I kind of thought it might be the bulbs, fixing to burn out.  I don't think we had replaced any of the bulbs in any of the closets of the house, so it probably is about that time.  Then last week, I was in there messing around with Mijo's clothes, I am excited because I've been buying him ties, mostly gold or tan ones, to wear for game days, when they are supposed to dress up.  I had gotten him a tie hanger and was hanging yet more ties I had ordered on Amazon, great prices, when I saw that the bulb failed to turn on.  I figured I'll change it when I get more time.  A day or two passed and I went in there again and noticed the light was on.  I didn't think much of it, but then that night, Mijo came and asked about his lights and fan not working.  I went and looked at the breakers and the one for his room had tripped.  I was half asleep when I did, but I showed him what to do.  He then went and turned it on a 2nd and maybe third time before Wife got involved and started asking questions.  I then thought there might be something wrong with that light fixture.

    I went and took it off, yes, I turned the breaker off.  Once off, it shouldn't be a problem anymore.  It was kind of rusted and even the bulbs were all black and charred in the metal part that screws in.  I decided this was trash and just went and bought a new one.  It took me about twenty minutes, but I installed a new one, bought a box of a dozen bulbs and at some point, I will go around and replace the rest of the bulbs in the other closets.  I bought some whiter bulbs that match the intensity of daytime, so even though the bulbs are only 60w, it looks much brighter in the closet than before when there were two more yellowish/tan-ish bulbs.

8/29/22 Mijo The Romantic?

     Mijo has had a girlfriend for a while now, the problem is that the parents of the girl do not know about him.  They have come up with a plan to let the parents know what is going on, sort of.  The plan is for him to make a spectacle, one of those Prom-posals, but for the homecoming dance, that way she can take whatever he gets her and show the parents.  This is a cute display of affection, but it took us taking a journey and thinking of clever phrases to use.

    Apparently, our son knows she likes Buc-ee's, they have had long arguments about it, he is one of the few Texans who does not appreciate the greatness that is a Buc-ee's gas station.  Either way, he felt this would be the place to begin for making a package of love.  Since we didn't go meet either side of the family, we had all day to do this.  We went up to Buc-ee's got a bunch of stuff, including a huge Buc-ee's teddy beaver, then we headed to eat at Sea Island.  Mijo really likes eating there, I am glad it is a little far from home, or we would eat there weekly, and it is just alright to me.

    After eating, we headed back to Austin, had to make a pitstop at the house, we bought some chocolates, and we can't leave them in the car for more than a minute, in our heat.  We then headed to Michael's to find something arts and craft to make a sign.  Turns out, the Michael's next to the bookstore on Brodie Lane is gone.  It was replaced by a Party City, so we were still able to find something fun to write on.  We also added some candies, then we were off to the bookstore, since we hadn't walked into one since before Covid.  He wanted to get her a copy of her favorite book, but they did not have it.

    We ended the hunt for stuff at Central Market, he wanted a cupcake to be the centerpiece, but since she said she likes carrot cake, it needed to be a carrot cake cupcake, which luckily, they had four.  We got the one, plus a couple of other goodies, for us, and headed home, oh yeah, he even got a dozen roses as an added bonus, because all girls love flowers.  We all sat at the table and helped him set up the stuff, instead of writing a message in by hand, we used the computer, and even added a cartoon beaver, because why not?  We thought it was all cute, by the time we were done.  We only hope the parents see that our boy is a good kid and one of the best suitors their daughter could have.  If they don't, it will be a complicated mess, since they have kind of been a couple since the spring, even if they went most of the summer without seeing each other.

8/28/22 Weekend Plans Shifted?

     Well, we started the week thinking we were going to go visit family.   After talking to mom and getting the guilt laid on thick because we haven't seen them since 4th of July, I had told Wife we were going to have to have to go down for a quick visit.  She then had to add that her family was having a party on Sunday, so we then could stop on the way back and visit with them as well.  This is all great on paper, but the reality is we are drained at the end of the week.  With football practice, it is like we are all there with Mijo, especially since we don't get home until almost 10:00pm, most nights, when we add in going to eat.

    I ended up talking to mom, telling her we would be showing up late in the day Saturday, Mijo has a team meeting on Saturday mornings to discuss the game, then he was going to go eat lunch with the linemen.  I told mom we would probably be on the road around 2:00pm.  She then said it didn't make sense to try and go in that case.  It was a nice gesture, but it's not really a visit if it is only a few hours.  It was then nice to hear from the other side that Wife's family was also unable to get together, one of our nephews plays soccer and they were going to have an extra game on Sunday afternoon, or something.

    Once freed, we were able to take it easy, well, not really.  Wife had scheduled to go pick up blankets, the small ones she donates to the school where she works.  this always happens early, so after dropping off Mijo at school, we headed out to the mall parking lot where we usually meet the lady.  After this, we headed back to our side of town.  A niece of Wife's secretary moved to Austin, and she got a TV she wanted mounted on the wall.  Wife was nice enough to volunteer me to do the work.  I don't mind, but I like to overdo things.  She had a big 60" TV which is nice, but the wall mount is one I would feel iffy using on a 30" TV.  It was small and only hung on one stud in the wall.  She assured me the instructions said it was rated for up to 100 pounds, which flat screen TVs are not near that weight anymore.  I told her I would do it, but I wasn't responsible for anything that went wrong.

    It took a good 40 minutes, but we got it done, then headed back in a rush to pick up Mijo.  He only brought one friend to eat with us, I guess the rest of the guys weren't in a celebrating eating together mood.  We then came back home and pretty much napped the day away.  We ended it with a very lame cheap burritos and corndogs meal and watched a movie on Netflix.

8/27/22 Mijo At His Lowest?

     Yes, the Cougars lost another one, I love these boys, but it doesn't surprise me, at this point.  They just don't seem to have enough quality players.  After the game, we do the usual routine, the team has a small meeting on the field, we go down to the rail, the boys come and we greet them, tell them we love them, all the boys we know come and tell us their highs and lows, we tell them to shake it off, it'll be fine, and the sting starts to disappear.  Mijo came up to us and seemed fine, he was a little disappointed but gave us the "I'll see you all at the school in a little bit."

    We left, it took the buses another 10-15 minutes for the teams to get there, including the band, then the small bus for the trainers, then the actual football team.  These games are a huge production, in terms of people required for games to happen.  I guess because of Covid, the last few years, it was just the team a lot of the time, so the support of so many people is just great.  Either way, we had a good spot where he could see our car, so we just sat there, I called my mom to tell her the score and the highlights.

    When he got to the car, he was quieter than normal, I figured he was a bit mad, but I had just hung up with mom, I wasn't focused on him, he didn't play, so I wasn't worried about him having any new bruises or pain, other than his knee.  I said whatever, maybe "you hungry?"  He gave the weakest "yes" he could muster.  Then Wife started with her jibber jabber, and he sounded like on the verge of tears.  I told her to read the room and just let him have a moment.  We drove quietly to Southpark Meadows to look for an open place to get some food.  We got Jack in The Box; Whataburger was just packed around the restaurant.

    Once he got talking, he mentioned how frustrating it is, everyone keeps asking him when he is going to play, he is not in a brace, or anything that indicates he is injured, so he looks ok.  We are getting a lot of parents asking us when he is getting on the field too.  He was trying to talk to his friend with the bad back and that he should rest it.  His friend told him they need somebody to lead the linemen on the field, so he is trying to be strong for the team.  I guess this got him hot and he went and asked the coach if he could play next week.  He then said the coach pulled him into a separate room and told him he won't be playing next week either, he needs him ready for the district games, so he just needs to settle down and wait.

    He has been hoping to come back, he feels helpless and watching his team suffer and losing hope.  A week ago, they were taunting him to quit, and all the seniors would follow him out the door.  I think that is when the coach made them run until they threw up to get it out of their systems.  Mijo does not have quit in him, but he is getting to the edge of his patience, he wants to compete, this is his last year, and he sees his precious few games left wasting away, week in and week out.

8/26/22 Some San Antonio School?

     It seems we all got confused, we thought we were playing a certain San Antonio team on Friday (written Saturday morning), but we were wrong.  When the name of the team came out, we guessed it was the team that went 0-11 last year, so it kind of seemed like they would be easy to deal with.  All summer, our QB had looked great, in the 7v7 matches in the summer, where only the QB and his receivers compete against the secondary, the backs that guard the receivers, we were beating or keeping up with most of the schools we were matched up with.  We had a scrimmage last week, and even there, we were able to run and pass at will, moving the ball easily.

    Last night, it did not go well.  I am not sure what happened, but many things were not right.  The whole problem cannot be on our boy, he is one of five linemen, charged with keeping the trenches under control.  There are technically 3-4 other experienced linemen, two other seniors, and two juniors.  For some reason, the center from last year was trying to be a running back, so had disappeared from the line, one of the seniors just has a very bad attitude (coaches demoted him from his starter role), we think he only plays because his dad forces him, he is rarely motivated to do the right thing, even though on paper, he looks like a player that could go play D1 football.  The other senior, a close friend of Mijo, has little self-esteem, always unsure of himself, but Mijo can inspire him, and together, they have done well.  They play side by side, Mijo at guard, and this kid at tackle, they get the job done.  The other junior, Mijo's sparring partner in wrestling, is another capable player and one of the smartest players on the team, but he has been fighting back problems, he keeps cramping or tightening up, so he is not 100% either.  Last night, they were relying on four freshmen or new guys, and it did not go well.

    The QB was running for his life all game long, and rarely had time to settle and read his receivers to throw good passes.  Most of his passes looked short and weak, and there seemed to be no place to run.  The other team was one dimensional, they could not pass at all, but they were running at will, rarely losing yards on any run play.  They must have just run 3-4 different plays all game long, a sweep around the left side and straight between the line and most every time they would gain at least 4 yards.  It was about as bad as playing those bigger school last year, and as we heard after, this team was a 6A school last year, and instead of 0-11, this school was really 5-6, so they knew how to win a few games.

8/25/22 Through Turmoil, We Learn And Grow?

     This is one of the rougher parts of being a parent, and sometimes the best thing we can do is nothing.  Through no fault of their own, sometimes our babies find themselves in situations they must deal with.  One of those, is when things don't turn out the way we thought they should, or things don't go according to plan.  Our first response might be to go in and try to mediate the problem, to help our kid get their way, because we think that is the way it should have been.  This might make things better in the moment, but it does not help the kid learn that life doesn't always go your way, sometimes life gets in the way and how you deal indicates what kind of person you will be growing up.

    We have become friends with a parent on the booster club, and she is very high energy and a person that gets things done, much like Wife without a filter.  Wife and I love our boys, they are our most important things, but even then, we aren't here to live their lives and protect them every step of the way.  We realized early that the best thing for them, was to let them experience the highs and the lows.  This mom means well and is very passionate about her kid, but she seems to be doing too much.  She doesn't want her daughter to experience any of the lows, instead, she tries to "correct" things in the background, so her daughter ends up on top.  

    This would be like us trying to change things for Mijo, right now, with his injury, trying to make things right, and finding ways to get him on the field before he is ready.  We could, maybe inject him with a steroid shot in the knee, so he wouldn't feel the pain, this might get him playing, but there is the possibility he gets injured worse, and then what?  For our shortsightedness, he could end up with a long-term injury, because we wanted him to get a short cut and be happy right now?  Sometimes, the best thing is to do nothing.  

She thinks her daughter should have more ranking or status on the team she is participating in, and maybe she is right, but the decisions have been made.  If she were to go and demand a recount, or get the leaders removed, what would the girl learn?  Mama won't always be there to help her get her way, and honestly, the daughter seems fine with where she is at.  I believe it is more of mom's ego wanting her daughter on top, maybe she was the leader or captain back in the day, so her girl should be the same, but sometimes life doesn't go like we planned it in our heads.