Shaun White Stole My Title

Mr. Husband is contractually obligated to always be older than me. In order to meet his obligations, he will be celebrating (I use that term VERY loosely) a birthday this coming Sunday. While I have already acquired a gift for his very special day, today I thought I would quickly drag Alexis through a store just to see if she had any thoughts for a gift of her own.

As we walked through the door, I asked Alexis if she had any ideas what Daddy might like for his birthday. "Underwear!" she replied as she drug me to the mens furnishings department and started tucking packages of underwear under her arms. Apparently she is very concerned about his underwear supply because she wanted to buy him a big ol' pile of boxers.

"I don't think Daddy wants underwear for his birthday," I finally told her. She didn't believe me, but she still was kind enough to put down the underwear and follow me over to another department. "Let's look for some more ideas," I told her.

"Daddy would like this!" she proclaimed as she picked up a baby blue ceramic Easter bunny.

"Um . . . let's see what else we can find," I told her, thinking that it really was a cute little bunny.

"Daddy would like this picture!" she said. The picture was an image of a woman's sillhouette in front of a Parisian background. It would be perfect in our dining room.

"What else do you see that you think he would like?" I asked.

"This! Daddy would love this pot!" she said, pointing to a gorgeous deep red Le Creuset casserole pot. It just so happened to be one that I have always wanted.

"Mommy would like that, but what would Daddy like?" I asked.

"Oh! This mirror! Daddy would like this mirror!" she said as she grabbed the side of a gorgeous full-length mirror.

"Let's look over here," I said, slightly baffled (and overjoyed) by the kid's ability to select things that *I* would love.

"Oooooh! Look! She's so beautiful!" Alexis proclaimed after setting her eyes on a metal earring holder shaped like a woman in a formal dress. "We HAVE to buy this for Daddy!" she added.

"I think you want that for you, not for Daddy," I said.

"No! Daddy should get this for his birthday!" she said.

"How long are you going to let Daddy have that before you put it in your room?" I asked.

"5 minutes," she replied.

It took the kid a while, but I think it's safe to say that she has finally figured out the fine art of shopping for yourself under the guise of hunting for a gift for someone else.

$5,000 Reward for Their Return

Exhibit A: February 2009

Exhibit B: February 2010

Let the evidence show that someone has stolen the child's chubby cheeks. If you know who may have committed this heinous crime, please report the person to me immediately. There is a $5,000 reward for their safe return. Please and thank you.

Some Decisions Just Shouldn't Have to be Made

If you don't like political posts, now is the time to click away. I generally don't like them either, but sometimes you just have to say what you have to say.

And I have something to say.

I've had it up to my eyeballs with people arguing that the health care system is fine just the way it is. Frankly, I don't know what the right answer is, what exactly needs to happen to improve the situation, or what the best way to implement changes is, I just know it needs to happen. Something needs to happen.

I can choose to forget the price we personally have paid for the fact that the system has been broken for years (forever, perhaps?). We're likely still paying on credit card debt from a middle-of-the-night asthma attack that sent Mr. Husband to the ER years ago, while he was in college and without insurance. It's OK; we'll get by still paying that bill. I can ignore the two inch circular scar on the inside of my right ankle, a result of a childhood injury that was never addressed because my parents didn't have insurance and couldn't pay to take a kid to the ER for (what I now know was) a broken bone and severe contusions. I can cover that reminder with a sock. I can even pretend that I don't know just how much money insurance companies are making, and about how they are now using those profits to spread lies and propaganda, disguised as political posturing.

What I can't ignore is that which is not here.

My mom.

If you've been around for a while, you know she died of breast cancer when I was 19. What you don't know is that it was her own fault. She knew. She knew she had breast cancer, and she chose to do nothing about it until it was far too late.

When you don't have insurance and you don't have money, there are some medical procedures that are still relatively easy to come by at no cost. Mammograms are on that list. When she found a lump, she went to a free screening and was told that it was likely a problem, and that she needed to follow up with a physician.

But she didn't have insurance. She also didn't have the money to pay for care out of her pocket.

So, she did what she thought was right. She felt that it would be stealing to go to the doctor knowing that she couldn't pay. She didn't want to clog a physician's schedule with a non-paying customer when others could pay. She didn't want to depend on public assistance. She didn't want to take money out of your pocket.

She assigned a price to her life and decided her life was worth less than that of someone with insurance.

Sure, it was her fault she died at the age of 45. It was absolutely her responsibility to take care of herself first and then worry about the ramifications later.

But why should she have ever been in the position to have to make that decision?