Everything has Popped Out of Joint

Justin injured his knee at work and has been home on crutches all week. It was supposed to pop back into place on Monday, and then doctors could do minor surgery so that this didn't happen again.

But we're still waiting for that to happen. In the ER on Tuesday, the doctor asked, "How does it feel to be an anomoly?"

Justin laughed, but honestly I don't think it feels that great. It hurts him, for one thing. For another, he can't go to his job on crutches.

Meanwhile everything around here seems to have popped out of place. While Justin and I made tagteam phone calls, everybody saw it as their opportunity to a. spill something (J.J. and Richie,) b. throw up on something (Skippy,) c. fight over something (Johnny and Richie,) or d. not see workman's compensation patients (our family practice doctor.)

I can't even describe what our house looked like yesterday. Suffice it to say that when the first Wednesday of the month tornado sirens blew, I prayed that it wasn't a false alarm.

And taking out the trash might be small potatos to Justin, but to me, it's hard work. Where are the big trash bags, I wonder? Will anything crawl out and bite me? Yes, I realize now that I've been living a bit like a princess, thanks to Justin's typically good health. This has been a learning experience for me. I just hope the bell rings soon so that I can put my tiara back on.

Finally, by trial and error, Justin got a doctor's appointment for Friday through his workman's compensation adjustor. We'll just wait and see what he says.

In case Justin is off for a long time, I've been researching writing jobs on the internet. There are a lot of them out there. People need catalog writers, newsletter writers, promotions writers, grant writers, technical writers. And I think I'm actually qualified for two of the jobs.

A game I like to play while I browse careerbuilder.com or monster.com is "What was the last guy like?" You can tell things didn't go well if the classified ad says, "Must have a car THAT RUNS, citizenship IN AMERICA and a sense of humor THAT IS APPROPRIATE FOR THE WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENT." You know you're gonna look like a rockstar compared to that guy.

On the plus side of all this, J.J. learned to clap, so it is like the Ricki Lake show around here. We can say anything and he applauds us.

Justin: Would you mind getting me a glass of water?

Me: Sure.

J.J.: Applause. Then, as I walk into the kitchen, he chants, "Go Ricki. Go Ricki. Go Ricki."

So that's fun.

Also, he's pulling up on the furniture and shaking his booty. Now he'll do this on cue (When I sing "Honkey Tonk Bedonkedonk.") So that's fun, too.

And we still have the pool to go to. And Justin's knee is gradually feeling better. Or maybe it's the medicine. He's able to sleep anyway.

We're pretty lucky, when you think about it. I realized this when the homeless guy next to Justin in the ER woke up to the nurse asking him where he wanted to go from there.

He scratched his head like he couldn't even think of a place he didn't want to go. Like the whole concept of the city was behind a pea soup fog.

Finally, he said 12th Street.

The nurse asked what was there.

And he stared straight ahead as if thinking, "I presume a street sign that says 12th Street is there. Honestly, I have no idea."

Then an EMT with a mustache wheeled a woman in as she asked for a huge glass of water. She was a big, friendly looking lady. Someone who looked like she'd never meet a stranger.

"I'm going to ask the doctors to get you that glass of water," the EMT said.

"Will you stay here with me?" she asked.

I smiled to Justin, thinking she was joking.

But when the EMT said, "There are a lot of other sick people that I need to help today," tears came to her eyes. She was crying like you do when you know you're being unreasonable but you just can't help it.

I always think that most people have somebody they can call and say, "Listen, I'm in the ER. Could you just bring me a Big Gulp filled with water and sit with me for five minutess." But that's not true. There are people who have no one. Nothing falls apart when they get injured. No one relies on them and they have no one to rely on except a sweet ambulance driver with a mustache. And the whole city is relying on him.

Lucky for me, I have seemingly thousands of household members relying on me right now. But we'll all be a lot luckier when Justin's knee--and everything else around here--pops back into place. Here's hoping for that.