Sunday, November 17, 2013

Seriously Blessed

So,  I am not a typically superstitious person. But there is one thing in my life that I have always been a little over the top about. And, that's my first born and the number 13. And, no I do not think 13 is unlucky, I actually think it is the luckiest number of all! So, here goes. When I was 13 years old on the 13th day in the month of November (it was a FRIDAY) I had a serious gymnastics injury. In the immediate aftermath of my fall off the uneven bars, my coaches treated it like a collar-bone injury. And, it actually took 11 days for a full "diagnosis". Two vertebrae in my neck were totally out of alignment (which we knew that first night after X-rays) but the fracture took longer to see. I was then hospitalized and in traction and two days later after an MRI (it was 1987 - MRI's weren't so readily available back then) they found a chip of bone floating a millimeter from my spinal cord. They scheduled me immediately for surgery to fuse the vertebrae and a bone graph from my hip was used to replace the chip that had broken off. I had a full recovery with minimal long term problems, considering.

Fast forward 13 years. Hubs and I had been married 2 1/2 years and I was 9 months pregnant with our first baby. I was due Nov 12. I, of course, was a swollen miserable human being. After a wonderful and enormous pre-Thanksgiving dinner (shout-out Tina Isgrig) and a near collision with a deer on the way home, i had a lightbulb moment in the car. I did the math. I had not realized it had been 13 years since the accident. I said to hubs, I am having the baby tomorrow. He sort of rolled his eyes at me. But, shit you not, my water broke at 12:05am on November 13. (It was not a Friday) 17 hours later our MK joined us. I held her and snuggled her and for whatever reason, did the math again. I realized she would turn 13 on Nov 13 in the year 2013….I said to hubs - oh we are not leaving the house that day, we'll stay home watch movies and do our nails.

Fast forward 13 years. This past Wednesday MK turned 13! I HAVE A TEENAGER!! Whoa, how did that happen so fast?! So, did we stay home and watch movies and paint our nails, hell yeah, of course we did! Was it because I am superstitious and didn't want to tempt fate? Was it because I wanted an excuse to stay in my jammies and watch movies all day? Was it because I am type A person and when I say I am going to do something I almost always do it? Well, all of the above! We watched PG-13 movies (including 16 candles and Pretty in Pink - #80'sgirl). We ate junk food and we laughed! I will treasure that day (well morning) with my daughter forever. By 1pm one of her BFF's that shares her bday skipped out of school early and they watched two more PG-13 movies together while I made the cake and took care of typical household stuff.

So, that's my 13 story. Pretty crazy right. Well, we lived, we loved, we laughed! That was what Nov 13 is about! And, if you think that is the lamest 13th birthday for a girl ever, well, the said BFF above and her mom plus MK and I did take in the Justin Timberlake concert a few days before. And, that was AMAZING. Especially because I surprised her with the ticket the morning of. Having this teenager that will put up with my antics and superstitions (plus she got the day off from school) is pretty awesome. Plus, she is gracious, and kind, and smart and really funny. So, after all that I've been through on November 13 for the past 26 years. Guess how I feel? You got it, seriously blessed….