False Alarm & Farewell

I have been looking forward to today for a week now. Actually, I have been looking forward to it for thirteen years, which was the last time the Chargers advanced in the playoffs. Last year, when I just knew they would be going to the Superbowl, I bought Chargers plates and cups in preparation for my Superbowl party. They've been sitting in the garage ever since. I thought about returning them, but I never did. I know that the Chargers will go. And I won't use them until then!

This blog is about why I didn't watch the first half of the Chargers game today.

Yesterday, Caleb went down for a nap. Well, it was more like Caleb went down for a nap, and then got up, and then we put him down again, and he got up, and we put him down again, and he got up, and so on and so on until, 90 minutes later, he finally went to sleep. When he got up from his nap, he said he had an "owee" and wouldn't put weight on his right foot. This was baffling. He was fine before the nap. I thought maybe his leg went to sleep while he napped, but we were in a hurry to get to Grammy & Grampy's for dinner, so we got in the car and went. It's also helpful that Grammy is a nurse and can provide free medical advice, which is hard to come by on a Saturday afternoon. Grammy checked Caleb's leg and found no indication of trouble other than the limp and Caleb pointing to his knee when we asked him where it hurt. If you've never seen a three-year-old limp, it's pretty sad. We had our visit, came home, put him to bed, and hoped that it would be better this morning.

But it wasn't better this morning. By the time nurse triage called us back, it was too late to go to church. The nurse told us to take him to urgent care (which was fine) which opened at 1:00 (which was 30 minutes before kickoff). This facility had radiology facilities, so at least we would know for sure if anything was broken. So at 12:30, Caleb and Scott and I (all dressed in Chargers gear) got in the car and headed for City Heights.

By 2:30 we had done x-rays (for which Caleb had held surprisingly still) and had the results-no breaks of any kind. The nurses were giving us updates each time we walked past their station (on the way to radiology, 3-0 Titans). We called Grammy on the way home to give her a Caleb update and she updated us on the game (6-0 Titans, Gates is injured and carted off the field). Scott was very grateful he hadn't been home watching the game because he would have just been frustrated. I reminded everyone that we're a second-half team.

We came home and watched the second half, which was MUCH better, on our big TV. And guess what? THEY WON! So Caleb may be on the DL, but it's definitely temporary, and the Chargers are in their way to Indianapolis. All in all, not a bad day!

Sadly, though, today is the last day of Winter Break. :( Tomorrow, we all go back to work/school (which is really the same thing). I chose to take all of my break off and didn't grade a single paper, so now I have about four sets of essays waiting for me when I get back. But Break was blissful and fun and gloriously grade-free, so now I can go back to work refreshed and ready for all that awaits. Right?

Farewell, Winter Break! I'll miss you!!