Whispers and Shouts: My Family

I grew up in Idaho with two amazing parents and three fabulous siblings. Now I live in Northern Virginia. How did I get here from Idaho? Delta Airlines. But let me tell you the long version...

I was in a car accident when I was 21 that left me with only one working limb and seven broken bones. I was a semester away from graduating from college in Idaho at the time so I had to take time off for the recovery, including further surgeries, and physical therapy. I spent six months not walking and over a year in therapy.

my car after my first accident

I was in another car accident a couple weeks before I graduated from college, about a year and a half after my first accident. That time someone saw me having a seizure right after I wrecked. I hurt my back but nothing else. No broken bones. The neurologist told me I had a seizure disorder and had to stop driving and so I did what any responsible person who heard that would do: I bought a one-way ticket across the country to live with a friend. I didn’t have a job or money. Looking back on it now, I understand why my dad called me crazy and exhaled in his angry-exhale tone on the phone.

I ended up getting an English teaching job in Alexandria, Virginia, outside of Washington DC. I knew the public tranportation there would help me not become a reclusive Idahoan Emily Dickinson minus the poetry talent since there aren't many bus routes or metro systems in Idaho. Sometime in those first years in Virginia my neurologist told me I had epilepsy. I had seizures at bus stops, in streets, and at home. I never had more than a couple a year, and I have been blessed to never have one behind the wheel of a car again, primarily because I’ve hardly been able to drive. I’ve continued to have about 1-2 seizures per year, despite being on medication.

Idaho wedding!

The state of Virginia held on to me. I like the area in and around DC and all the public transportation is invaluable to me. I continued to teach middle and high school English and did a stint writing courses for an online school. I met and married a southern gentleman. I like to call him that because he doesn’t hunt like my dad and brothers, he grew up with a parlor in his house, and says “sir” and “ma’am” more than anyone in my family. Don't worry, he doesn’t wear a top hat or have a working plantation or anything.

A week before the boys were born

We got married in Idaho in 2006 and in 2008 we found out I was pregnant with twins! I gained 60 pounds and looked a little something like this. Okay, I looked exactly like this.

The twins were born in 2009 and our lives have never been the same. Every day we are so blessed to have them. Then in July 2013 we had little Theodore John, who we call Teddy. He is a constant delight-- the happiest baby I've ever met. He wakes up smiling and barely ever stops all day.

I’m also enormously blessed in that I get to stay home with them and soak in all their changes and growth and love, and I’ve found that writing about them on this blog, when I can squeeze in time, is ridiculously fun.

I hope you are entertained by my whispers and shouts and my newfound appreciation for silence. I'd love to hear from other moms of twins and/or moms with epilepsy, should you stumble upon my blog. I'm working on getting links to it out there on other websites and on being somewhat of a help for other Northern Virginia parents, parents with epilepsy, and parents living in small spaces, however I can. I also want to make you laugh.