A Day of Disasters

Yesterday started out early (for us, at least.) We traded in our Saturday Morning Routine yesterday for a day of Red Cross Shelter training. And what I expected to be rather dry and boring, turned out to be really interesting and challenging. Our church acts as a Red Cross Shelter for disasters, and Rick and I worked pretty closely with the Hurricane Ike and Rita disasters. We really enjoyed serving in this capacity. So when this training popped up, it was a no-brainer that we attend. I guess I've never really paid attention to some things, but what I learned (apart from the nuts and bolts of Sheltering) was interesting. For instance, the American Red Cross is not affiliated with the government. Now, I KNEW they were supported by donations, but I never really thought of it in detail. One of their founding key principals is "neutrality." This means that they do not align with any political, religious, racial, ethnic, etc party. You will never see the American Flag on a Red Cross vehicle. Hmmmm. I feel silly admitting that, but I always lumped "America" and the "American Red Cross" together. Ok, now that I've brazenly displayed my inadequate intelligence... let's move on to other things. Next stop... the Emergency Room. Our training was interrupted by a phone call about Collin. He was riding his bicycle and doing what most boys do. Say it with me: "DA DA DA DUNNNNNN. Enter.... the ramp. Yes, a ramp. Normal enough for a kid of 15, right? Right. The result: a broken collarbone. He was quite brave - and believe me, this kid has a high pain tolerance. Maybe because we are no stranger to the ER. (As evidenced by the staff recognizing Collin and and saying "What happened this time?") He even attempted to refuse the vicodin. But once that nifty "figure 8" brace was cinched into position pulling his shoulder blades back, I think he would have taken an IV of the stuff. Next week he'll see his orthopedist. Yep, he already has an orthopedist! That would be from the incident last year. The really sad part is that Collin had just started the Power Lifting season. He was finding his niche, and REALLY enjoying it. This takes him out of that for the season. I know he is quite bummed, and so are we. Tomorrow my new hire starts work. Rick and I have survived a month of handling the office alone, every day. Just a few bumps and bruises, semi-permanent scaring, etc. Yep, tomorrow will be a GOOD DAY.