Good Riddance 2011!

Dear 2011, I attempted to outreach to you at the beginning of the year to address your aggressive and confrontational attitude toward the Coolidge Clan, January 25th to be exact. I knew early on that there needed to be some additional training/counseling/interventions between the two of us to make our working relationship run a little smoother. I never heard back from you and I guess the lack of communication was answer enough. 

So with the 2012 waiting eagerly in the wings, I am happy to wish you... good riddance. You were difficult, some would say "challenging" but that is too positive a word to describe you.  You were relentless and downright aggressive.  You didn't just affect us; your hostile attitude got Team Coolidge all riled up.

You forever changed me and you brought me to my knees but after a nice lunch, with a dear friend, I recognized that you did not break me. You tried.  You tried really hard and I do not appreciate that type of style.  There are books that address this... just saying.  But YOU. DID. NOT. BREAK. ME!
 I endured all of it. Stuff I can't even remember and the stuff that I can, like: 

• Chase's school schedule
• The decision for Andy to stay at home
• Traveling with Chase
• The weekly Hizentra treatments for Madison (at home and in the office)
• Endoscopies
• Swallow studies
• Funky ear infections
• The new diagnosis that Chase and Madison both have additional immune system issues
• Pulling Madison out of school... again
• Conversations of pulling Chase out of school b/c he is an "immunologic time bomb"
• The need for a Hematologist
• Drew's stomach bug that turned into IV fluids
• The stress of keeping my job while balancing all of these crazy appointments

 I sweep you under the rug, 2011!  I have a few more gray hairs, a few more wrinkles, a few more pounds but I have a bigger, badder, tougher, stronger Team Coolidge that if 2012 doesn't understand that, she is in for a world of hurt!

P.S. 2011, I am done with you - you made me want to cuss...Which should be a country song if anybody would like to write it!

Christmas of Experience!

The Christmas of Experience turned out to be quite the experience!
Sometime between Halloween and Thanksgiving I got fed up with all the "stuff" in our house. It was actually probably long before that but I just didn't realize what it was that was bug'n me. I was tired of the girl's telling me they were "bored", I was tired of the playroom being covered in toys that had been dumped on the floor, and I was tired of the TV being the "default" activity. Once I realized what part of the problem was, operation "Less is More" started. The upstairs was cleared out. Closets were purged, toys were donated and whatever was left over was organized and put away. That's when I decided on a "Christmas of Experience" for the Coolidge clan. Instead of "things" I wanted to get the kids "experiences": horseback riding lessons, rock climbing, tae kwon do, tickets to Peter Pan, stuff like that. No clutter, no mess and maybe even fun!

I was expecting the "Christmas of Experience" to have the most impact on the kids and to start after Christmas was over and the gifts had been opened. I was wrong! The kids were definitely impacted but the most impact was had by me.

Our Christmas was jump started by a VERY' generous family at the church that had heard about the kids and the year they had medically. They knew we could pay the mortgage and that we weren't at risk of having the power turned off, they knew all that. They just wanted to make our Christmas easier. What an overwhelming concept to process. I said 'no" initially to the generouse offer...We are not worthy of this, there are other people who need this more than we do... but when this family walked in our house with boxes of gifts (multiple boxes of gifts!) and their 3 super-nice boys carried in the full size bed that would allow me to sleep with Madison when she is sick instead of Madison sleeping with me downstairs, displacing Andy to the couch for days, sometimes weeks; when this family removed the burden that I didn't even know I had... I had a huge sense of relief. I still am not sure that we deserve this generosity but this "Christmas Experience" made a personal impact!

And if that wasn't enough, the "Christmas Experience" continues. The very next night, we receive a text asking us to "check the front porch". And what do you think is waiting on the front porch but a GIANT bag of presents. These presents weren't just for the kids; these presents had special treats for Andy and me too. These present came from the "elves". So the kids are nice and excited when the next night, a new text indicates to check the porch, this time the bag of wrapped presents (everybody knows that Santa doesn't wrap) are from Santa! Chase can barely contain himself and everybody believes in Santa (I guess Santa DOES wrap); another AMAZING Christmas experience.

In December we had blood work, weekly infusions, IV fluid replacement, new diagnoses, referrals to new doctors, swallow studies and very little PTO. The year of the "Christmas Experience" with multiple people SWOOPING in to take care of things that I didn't even recognize that I needed help with... was a truly AMAZING experience. I know that the kids will have an amazing 2012 and I hope that someday I can duplicate this experience for someone else’s family. 

Thank you special family, special elves and a very special wrapping Santa.  The Christmas Experience was a HUGE success!!!