Life's Twists and Turns in Life

I’m officially on school break until January 5. We ended at noon today. We technically had our party yesterday, but it wasn’t very long (not quite an hour), so today I cooked breakfast (waffles and breakfast sausage with OJ) for the kids. They’re so funny and appreciative. Box mix that you add water to for the waffles and frozen sausages, but you would have thought I had cooked them a 7 course meal. They had many sweet little gifts from me. Lots of homemade goodies, a few gift cards to local restaurants, a few teacher cups and other cute little things. It makes you feel so loved and appreciated when they bring their little gifts in.

At the same time I’m enjoying all of this time with my kids, I’m worried as well. My cousin’s daughter (I can never keep straight if that makes her my 2nd cousin or 1st cousin once removed - I just call her my cousin), Cat, was in a horrible wreck last weekend. She works near me at a convenience store and drives home after it closes (she usually leaves a little after 9). The weather was so bad, and we don’t know the exact cause of the wreck. She was the only vehicle involved, and she wasn’t wearing a seat belt. :( She fishtailed in a curve and rolled the car several times. She ended up with the car basically standing on its nose. People who lived nearby took her out of the vehicle, which is never usually a good idea, but the car was smoking and leaking gas. They were worried about an explosion. Our little town has a volunteer fire department, but it takes them a little while to get together. A coworker’s husband is a medic on the squad and he told her it was really bad, Cat was “posturing” - arms and hands pulled into the body, usually indicative of a brain injury. She was never responsive.
She’s now in ICU in a medically induced coma. They think she is most likely breathing on her own, but they have kept her on the ventilator. She’s got 5 bleeds on the brain. They don’t seem to be active any more, but the body isn’t absorbing them. She’s not responding to pain or her family. Cat scans are showing no change, which on one hand is good, that means it’s not getting worse, but it also means it’s not reducing in pressure or the amount of blood on her brain. One of the bleeds is on the brain stem, which is not good. They also think her neck is broken. She’s had a lot of struggles in her life, and made some poor choices, but she was really trying to turn her life around and get on track. My heart breaks for her grandparents, though, my aunt and uncle. Two days will mark the 1 year anniversary of their son’s death (liver failure due to severe diabetes), about 6 months before he died, his son killed himself, his other older son is in a mental institute for life. He fried his brains with drugs. I don’t know how much more they can handle. My uncle said that a parent is never supposed to bury their child, much less their grandchild.

This is Cat before

And this is Cat right now

So, if you are a person who prays, please pray for healing for Cat, strength for her family, and for the doctors to make the best decisions for her. If you aren’t a prayer, any healing thoughts are welcome as well. And, please make sure you take time with the people you love, don’t put off visits or phone calls for things that just don’t matter. The people, the love, the time, those are the things that matter.