Who needs knees, anyway?

I certainly don’t. That’s why I put one of mine out of commission. It was on purpose, I assure you. I meant to do it.

Last Tuesday night, I fell down the stairs. I only fell three steps, and I was holding the handrail, but I still managed to tear my MCL (medial collateral ligament). It’s the ligament that connects the femur to the bones in the lower leg. It’s not a severe injury (like when someone tears their ACL – on the outside of the knee – and has to have surgery). It’s more of a nuisance, really, because it requires things I can’t handle, such as rest and crutches. I used the crutches for about 5 days and then gave them up. It’s impossible to carry a giant infant (see Baby Blog) and use crutches. Plus, as difficult as it is to believe, given that I am such a klutz, I have never before been on crutches, and they are a pain in the butt to use!

And resting? Ha! I have four little kids. I never rest. It looks like I will be in a hinged knee brace for a while, but then I should be okay. I was going to try to train for a mini-triathlon next July, so I hope that my knee heals soon.

And did I mention that it hurts like hell? They offered me “painkillers” at the emergency room, but I declined. After all, I gave birth without an epidural to a 9 pound, 5 ounce kid with a head circumference in the 95th percentile. I can handle a little knee pain. Plus, I’m nursing Johnny, and the last thing I want to do is dope him up with a couple of doses of Vicodin. Chardonnay is okay once in a while, but I draw the line at narcotics. Instead, I am taking Tylenol and Advil when the pain gets too bad. Most of the time, though, I can’t even think about the pain because I have 87 other things to do.

I’m sure that there are other fun things going on at Chez Tierney right now, but I can’t for the life of my put them down on paper (website). I just can’t think of anything that is interesting enough/funny enough (such as someone drinking someone else’s pee, for example) to write about. If I actually sat down and wrote more often, I’d have more to say.

In a field in Pennsylvania, we laid to rest national heroes. On a city street in New York, we laid to rest national heroes. In a building that refused to fall in Washington, DC, we laid to rest national heroes. Over 3000 heroes were created on September 11, 2001, and none of those woke up that morning knowing they’d give their lives in a battle for America.

Today marks the 5th anniversary of the attacks on America. As I watch the continuing coverage of America since 9/11, I am both proud and disappointed. I am proud of the America that has come together to rebuild and reenergize after misguided zealots tried to destroy us. I am disappointed in those who call themselves American, yet who would like nothing more than to see this country fall into despair, simply because it fits their political motives.

America will not be destroyed by those from outside our borders. The only way she can be destroyed is by those on the inside. It is our duty as Americans to NEVER FORGET what happened to our country on September 11, 2001. It is our duty as Americans to NEVER FORGET what happened to our country on December 7, 1941. It is our duty as Americans to support our great nation and continue the fight that began on July 4, 1776. We must always struggle to remain free. The evil within and the evil without are always trying to defeat us, but we must stand strong. We must continue to be the people that have made America the best country in the world. We must work hard, support our troops and our President, and pray for the protection of all our citizens, born and unborn.

I will cry today. I hope you do, too. Cry for those we lost, and cry for the heroes created by the evil forces who tried to destroy us.

My baby went to Kindergarten today. I got an email about halfway through the day from the principal (gotta love Catholic school) letting me know that Emma had already told her when Emma's birthday is.

Tom took her for her traditional First Day of School Breakfast at the Chaska Bakery. He told me that she was so excited she could barely eat. This kid loves donuts, and only had about a fifth of hers. Then he took her to school, where he had to remind her to kiss him goodbye.

At 3:40, I went and picked her up. She was so cute in her uniform and backpack. When she got in the car, she started in on all the cool things they did in school. I looked down at her saddle shoes (yes! SADDLE SHOES!) and noticed that on the first day of school, she had succeeded in scraping the daylights out of them. Oh well, at least she had fun.

So, all in all, a GREAT day at Kindergarten, but I did miss her. *sigh*

Pictures here.