The Times, They Are a-Changing

I am now the mother to two college students and two high school students.

These kids.

Are now these kids.

What?

No matter how much you wish time to slow, it never does. Gunnar graduated high school in May. Here is a shot of his senior table. John Deer sheets (he’s had those sheets since he was a toddler and they’re still his favorite!) and a gas can. Yes, a gas can.

He wanted to put his motorcycle on the table and call it good, but they wouldn’t let him bring it in the building. Seriously. He asked.

Just about every photo of him in his slideshow and on his table was taken outside. He’s that kind of kid.

The day after graduation he was supposed to hop in his car and drive 17 hours to a dude ranch in Colorado for his summer job. But this was not to be.

He made a comment on Friday about how he thought he might be getting a cavity. By Saturday he was sure he was getting a cavity and was taking some Advil and had some pain during the graduation ceremony and after-party. I gave him all of our dental insurance info and told him he’d need to find a dentist up near the ranch. When he woke up Sunday morning, the day he was to leave, the entire side of his jaw was swollen and he was in excruciating pain.

Instead of going to Colorado, we went to the ER. Turns out, he had an abscessed tooth. He had a traumatic root canal 10 months ago where the dentist broke off the drill in his tooth and it took 2 days to do the whole procedure. It was horrid! Apparently, that can leave pockets in the jaw where bacteria can get and cause this problem. I was amazed at how fast it happened. The ER doc gave him a shot of antibiotics and some pain meds. We got into an oral surgeon on Monday morning. This doc was wonderful. We were initially told he was busy all day, but when he heard how bad off Gunnar was he said to bring him in right then. So we did. He basically opened his office early for Gunnar.

He saw him and scheduled him for surgery the very next morning. The doc said that this is a very dangerous infection and left untreated could be FATAL! Holy cow! He said that it’s a very good thing it happened before he left and not in The Middle of Nowhere, Co. By the time Gunnar went in for surgery, the entire side of his face was swollen, and his eye was almost swollen shut. He was a mess.

Within 24 hours of having that tooth removed he looked back to normal. (He’ll be getting an implant when he comes home in the Fall. Cha ching!! But I’ll not think about that now.) It was amazing. The bad part of the whole deal was that he had to stay home for a whole week recovering. He had to sit around and do nothing. If you know Gunnar you know how hard that is for him. The first day after surgery he was asking to use his chainsaw (to remove a tree that fell the night before) ride his motorcycle, go out with friends. Sheesh! 

That kid does not know the meaning of rest!

The following Tuesday morning we had a 9am appointment with the surgeon where he got clearance to leave and he was on the road, Colorado bound, by 10 am.

That was two weeks ago. I’ve talked to him a few times and it sounds like he is having the time of his life up there. If he were not signed up for EMT/Fire Academy in the Fall, I’d be afraid he would not come home.

Also this summer, Evelyn will be getting her driver’s license. And Annika has moved up to high school in the church youth group. Lots of changing going on around here. Next school year is going to look very strange. Both of the boys at college; Bryce getting his associates in Paramedicine, Gunnar doing EMT and Fire Academy (Bryce has completed that already). Evelyn taking Duel Credit classes at community college, and Annika taking high school classes at our co op. Annika is really the only one I’ll be doing much hoeschooling with. I guess I’ll have some free time next school year.

Maybe I can finally get those closets cleaned out…