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Who's tougher than Jenny?

Contributed by: Bill Prather on 2/4/2008

She would kill me if she knew I was writing this. I'll take the chance. After all, if not me, who's to tell her story? She won't do it herself. Even if she wanted to, there's no time!

Eight o'clock, Monday morning: The baby's screaming, Marty can't find his coat, Delaney isn't finished breakfast and the bus is waiting. In one grand motion Jenny helps Marty with his coat, feeds Delaney the last bite of oatmeal and hands baby Malia her favorite toy.

Seconds later, Mommy, son and daughter offer a hearty "Good morning!" to the bus driver. Then Jenny rushes back inside to comfort Malia who's suddenly realized that over-sized plastic keys aren't so cool.

So it goes, five mornings a week. From late August to mid-June that's Jenny's life. Seems the same as every other mother. Except . . . how many other mothers help their daughter through three therapies a week? How many other mothers carry their eight-year-old daughter from bed to her wheelchair each morning?

As she dresses Delaney, she's mindful of the signs that tell her that Delaney's hip might be displacing again. If it looks so, she's off to Children's Hospital (again) and a meeting with the orthopedic surgeon. Of course that's after making arrangements for the care of her other children and maybe a frantic call to Dad, who might be working in Arvada, or maybe Colorado Springs, or maybe he's in New Jersey, training for his deployment to Iraq.

While she tries to calm Delaney's fears, nurse the baby and assure Marty that everything's ok, she worries about her mother-in-law, two thousand miles away, dying of Alzheimer's disease.

Before she knows what hit her, it's dinner time. Malia must be nursed, Marty wants peanut butter and honey and Delaney wants her daddy. Jenny makes it two out of three and convinces Delaney that even though Daddy isn't here, he really loves her and misses her. Jenny pulls it all off without a hint of self-pity.

Suddenly, the phone rings. Another disaster! Seems someone has called someone else "fat" and Jenny is the only person who can bring sanity to an insane situation. Jenny calmly handles the call and gently hangs-up the phone while Delaney screams that it's time for her bath and Marty proudly announces, "I pooped! Come wipe my butt!" Malia just screams because she wants to be held.

After dinner, when the kids are asleep and all seems well, she remembers that soon, it will all start again. Soon, she'll really be alone because Daddy will be deployed to Iraq. The support system she counts on is . . . well, counting on her! It seems that Jenny is the support system.

She'll be doing it all by herself for a year. And she'll do it because that's what she does. Jenny holds it all together. Without her, so many would be lost. Most of all, me.

Who's tougher than Jenny?








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Showing 1 of 1 comments
Submitted By: Tom Treloar
posted on 2/4/2008 @ 9:57:03 AM
Rated Story
I agree, Jenny is strong!
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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Bill Prather

Arvada , CO

Bill Prather has posted 1 story and 37 comments since joining on 7/15/2006. Bill Prather 's average story rating is 5.
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