All at Once

Eamon is one today, and I've hardly had a second to give that any thought. The weekend extravaganza was chaotic but great: birthday party on Saturday (we had about twenty people here), baptism on Sunday at this church that we love. (More on that stuff later.) TJ's parents arrived from Florida on Saturday afternoon before the party and are staying with us until tomorrow. Eamon woke up from his nap on Sunday with a fever and it hasn't gone away since. He has no other symptoms, but he clearly feels lousy, and we're taking him to the doctor today even though they probably can't do anything. He's been fussy and clingy (wanting Mama) and just not himself. It's exhausting. In the meantime, TJ came down with a toothache Friday night. Later he confessed that he thinks it was the worst pain he's ever felt. Luckily, it subsided into a less excruciating ache by Saturday morning and he was able to put up with it until he could get to the dentist yesterday. We knew it was going to be bad news, but we had no idea just how bad.

He needs to have three teeth extracted, two root canals, bridges, implants, blahblahblah. It's going to cost over $10,000, and even if we get dental insurance first, which we will, the insurance will only cover $1500 of that. He has an appointment with an endodontist on Thursday (which will determine whether the infected tooth can be saved) and in the meantime he'll be taking antibiotics and painkillers. He'll also need to see an oral surgeon. And of course he's scheduled to go out of town next week. What a nightmare. We haven't had a chance to talk about how we're going to pay for this stuff, other than selling one of our cars, and that's just for starters.

In other drama, TJ got into a fight with his mom on Sunday night that was not pretty. They made up in the end, after Mary sobbed and sobbed and accused TJ of being an ungracious host and said she never wanted to come here again. It started with her going off on illegal aliens. (After all, isn't that the country's worst problem right now?) TJ lost it and told her she was "unbelievably, incredibly ignorant." This was after an argument with his dad that ended with his dad going upstairs and saying he wanted to leave early. Good times. That one started over a comment his dad made about "all the blacks and Mexicans fighting in our prisons" and TJ calling him a racist. Bill and Mary are the worst kind of Republicans, and they bring up offensive shit, and TJ just can't let it roll off his back. I wish he could, but I can't really blame him for getting upset.

Between Bill and Mary, and TJ trying to work and deal with his tooth, and Eamon being sick, I feel like I'm barely clinging to sanity. But I know that in the grand scheme of things, it's all small stuff, and in a twisted way, that feels good. Sort of. It feels like life, anyway.