broken bones and broken heart...part one

well, mrs. smith went to washington with the intent of finding a new home for the family.

precious husband (PH) said he was going to whisk me away on a 10-day "vacation" to the greater DC area. we were to be footloose and kiddy-free for the longest duration in our ten plus years together. it was an effort to coordinate care for the little ones, but as always, the grandparents were more than happy to help out.

as we prepared for our trip, i envisioned how the past few months of obsessive research would come to fruition. i had stolen moments of sleep while PH was out of town compiling all possible property listings for our upcoming house hunt. i further divided my multitasked time while the precious little ones (PLOs) were climbing my leg and the walls to find any morsel of information concerning the public schools in the DC metro area. "not now, honey, mommy is doing important research that will affect the rest of your life!"

these efforts were all a vain attempt for mrs. smith to control her anxious heart. while the public school research could have waited (the eldest PLO won't enter kindergarten for another two years), i could have, and should have, easily left the property research up to the more than capable resources of the relocation professionals. yea, yea, that whole hind sight thing.

so...PH and i are day four into our second honeymoon. we are working like a well-oiled machine. we had laptop, cell phones, files and highlighters in tow. in the airport we went over our MLS sheets and compared properties as if we were preparing for a big corporate presentation. given my usually day to day details, i felt tragically sexy and grown up here. we canoodled in the hotel elevator and shared meal after meal of uninterrupted eye contact and conversation! wait for it...wait for it...

we were in the midst of signing our life away on an idyllic piece of property when PH's phone rang. he stepped into the hall as i continued to go over the contract with the real estate agent. i could tell by the tone of his voice that one of the PLOs had been hurt. our second honeymoon had come to a screeching halt and i was quickly thrown back to my parental reality.

about twelve hours later, i was on a flight back home and PH stayed behind to finish the home search. upon arriving to the hospital, i was thankful to learn that our eldest was resting peacefully (thanks to an IV cocktail that made her profess her love for rainbows and anyone in the room...sweet thing) and that i had made it back before her scheduled surgery.

it will be just a few pins and two months of a cast -- armpit to fingertip -- to heal her broken appendage. our eldest PLO is a fan of adventure and took a tumble off the top of the kiddie slide in the backyard. of course this could have happened at any time, but while both PH and i were away?!? this is not how mrs. smith planned to spend her first trip to washington, but there i was back at home, in this children's hospital, staring at the same equipment and the same crib that PH and i had become unwillingly used to just 6 years prior.

as parents, this was our first broken bone, but for mrs. smith, this was unfortunately familiar territory for my broken heart.


continued on "broken bones and broken heart...part two"