Whirlwind

I am alive. Slightly worse for the wear, but alive. Last Wednesday, I headed down to Sunny Florida for work. As I was parking my car at the airport, my mom called informing me that my brother had been in a 4-wheeler accident the night before and broke his femur in several places. He was at his hunting camp in South Georgia, trying to get in his last deer of the season, and I'm sure you can imagine what happens at night with a bunch of 20-somethings in the woods. He was taken by ambulence to Jasper, GA... then to Brunswick, GA... and finally to Shands Jacksonville where he had surgery to insert a rod and screws into his femur. I'm wondering if that will set off the metal detectors at the airport! :) He was quite lucky to be at such an awesome (read: University of Florida) hospital, and his doctor was one of only five Orthopedic Traumaticians in the region. As he was being wheeled into surgery, he saw someone in the hall wearing Gator gear, and held up is hand in a fist and said, "Go Gators!" Haha, that's my brother... love it! He is expected to make a full recovery, but he is pretty much out of commission at present. I spent most of the weekend at his house trying to help out Christine (who is almost 7 months preggo) and playing with my nephew.

The work trip was good and took me from Ft. Lauderdale to Jupiter to Bradenton to Orlando. I was already planning to stay the weekend in Jacksonville, so it sort of worked out well. I certainly would have rather been able to spend time with my brother without him being all laid up, but sometimes things happen for a reason. Saturday was supposed to be James' third birthday party, but circumstances as they were, Christine had to cancel. So, I took James on a date to the movies to see The Tale of Despereaux. It was a very cute movie, but the best part was watching him and the cute things he would whisper to me during the movie. At one point he looked up at me and said, "Kristin, I love you." Melt my heart, why don't you! (Note: sometimes I am Aunt Kristin and sometimes I am just Kristin... funny kid.) It was great to be home and see the family, even if it was short-lived.

Meanwhile, all of this is going on and Matt has been notified that he will be transferred for work. Now, the economy being what it is, I'm not going anywhere... especially to Memphis, TN or Tifton, GA. What, you've never heard of Tifton? It's that oasis off I-75 in south Georgia between Perry and Valdosta. Never heard of them either? Well, you're not missing too much, but Valdosta does have an amusement park and is one of the larger cities in Georgia outside of metro Atlanta. I remember when Tifton used to have signs reading "turfgrass capital of the world" and "high speed internet capital of the world." I don't know who bestowed upon them these awards, but maybe they were bluffing, because the signs are gone. In any case, it looks like Matt is going to be working in Tifton Monday through Friday. It's certainly not ideal, but it could be worse. We're trying to be positive about it. I figure I'm going to lose weight, because I'm going to start going to the gym more after work and going back to my pre-husband diet of much leaner dinner fare. He'll probably lose weight too, because he'll go back to his bachelor diet of Lean Cuisines, sandwiches, and soup! :)

For those of you who pray out there, please add my brother to your prayer list... not only for speedy healing but for a reality check on priorities (he's an amazing guy, but sometimes I wonder what he's thinking). Also, if you want to pray for Matt and me, we'll take it! We've done long distance before, and I know we'll be fine. I just certainly didn't imagine this for our first year of married life (or ever, really).

Also, if anyone wants a Walker Hound, my brother has a litter of six puppies. I'll post pictures when I get home. I think he already has homes for three of them, and the only requirement is that you give them a good home! They are adorable. I know nothing about the breed except that they are hunting dogs and freakin' adorable puppies!