A week ago I had a couple of appointments with the VA so they could examine the breaks in my jaw and nose. After the x-ray on my mouth the dentist basically said that my teeth and jaw could make someone who hasn't been blown up jealous.
I still have all my teeth, they line up perfectly, full range of motion in my jaw and it opens nice and strait. She said it was actually a little boring to see. the only bit of exciting news was there was a piece of plastic stuck in the jaw bone back near my right ear.
What can I say, I prefer a boring medical exam just like everyone else.
After the dentist we met with some other doc who was asking general questions about what happened and checking out my nose and skull fractures. Again, medically speaking there was nothing exciting to talk about.
Kadence came in with me while Jesse and Sophie stayed out in the waiting room. She sat right on my lap and was her usual curious self. I had to keep asking her to hold her questions about everything until we were finished.
At one point I had to run through the events of my injury. After I summed it all up with the list of injuries, and the doc was taking notes on his computer, Kadence chimes in and says
"Yeah and my other daddy died".
It caught us both off guard. She said it so calm and quietly I am sure he thought he heard her wrong. He just stopped typing. I explained the whole story to him and he leaned toward Kadence and said that he was sorry but we were very fortunate to have a new daddy in the family.
These somewhat strange but touching moments were what I had in mind when Jesse and I decided at the very start to be totally open with her about everything that happened.
We have had a lot of conversation about death and why it happens.
A friend and fellow TACP that I went through training with passed away on Saturday in a motorcycle accident. This hit pretty hard, and Kadence, of course, noticed it.
Yet again we got to explain to our three year old how sometimes people have to leave this life earlier than we would like. We get to tell her about God and how there is a plan to life.
Moments like these are when our families religious beliefs become such a huge comfort to us.
Nothing can make the passing of a friend ok, but the big picture always helps to put things into perspective and remind us all to enjoy life.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the two TACP's who have lost their lives in the last two weeks. May you both rest in peace. You will be dearly missed.
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