Tuesday, March 23, 2010

On this day in history....a letter to my son

Dear Brody,

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed into law the most incredible overhaul of health care reform ever attempted in our great country.

I've been supporting it since its inception, and the idea of it hit home to me when you were born.

One of the first things I worried about when you were born was how were we going to pay for your health care. What would happen if we got laid off and didn't have health care? What would happen when you were grown up and were denied health care because of your pre-existing conditions? What would happen when we reached the capped amount of care and you needed more care? How were we going to pay for a kidney transplant for you if we had no health insurance?

Well, now each of those worries is gone.

Because some very brave people in Washington listened to all of my emails and letters and phone calls. I talked about you to them. How your mom and dad were educated, working middle class people who had a son who needed a lot of surgeries and a lot of therapies and a lot of medication. And you always would be a high-risk person to insure. And how the medical bills were already forcing us to contemplate bankruptcy, because 20% of each $50,000 surgery, when you have 8 surgeries, is not anything a normal person can pay.

As of this morning, Brody, this is what you get.

You can be on our health insurance until you are 26 (instead of 23, like before)

You can never be barred from getting health insurance for your pre-existing conditions of tracheo-esophageal fistula, bilateral radial hypoplasia, having only one kidney, or Vacterl association. So if you need an operation to fix one of these things, to save your life, to get you a new kidney, an insurance company will not be able to say no to you.

There are no more caps on the insurance. As of yesterday, there was a $1 million cap on your health insurance. If you needed more than that, insurance would cover 0. I think we have used about $650,000 of that cap. If you got cancer, needed a transplant, or something else, and the costs were above that $1 million, there would be no more insurance, and no way for us to pay for your care. 

Before today, if you got sick, an insurer could just kick you off from coverage.

Not anymore. Now, you are insured. Period.

You still get to see your same and favorite doctors, like Dr. Jay and Dr. Furness.

Oh, and the deficit gets paid down by $138 billion over a decade. (I hope that number still seems like a lot when you read this).

I hope by the time you read this, there is even better health care and the notions of caps and bans for sick people are antiquated and maybe even illegal.

Brody, I voted for President Obama for you. And today is the day that so many of my worries are lessened. I hope these protections stay law forever and I pray we never have to use them.

Love,
Mommy

Monday, March 22, 2010

Brodyisms: kisses and love and Oedipus too

This morning I was upstairs getting ready for work. Brody and Jeremy were in the living room/kitchen area. Suddenly, Brody is screaming and crying.

I run downstairs. Jeremy is standing there, shaking his head at Brody, who has real tears rolling down his cheeks.

Me: What happened, Brody?

Brody: Daddy kissed me.

Me: Daddy kissed you? Well, that's a nice thing. That means he loves you.

Brody: No! Daddy kissed me and I told him no, I didn't want dat!

I look at Jeremy, eyebrows raised. He shakes his head, as if to say, I have no idea. Such is the temperment of the toddler.

***************************************
Brody: You know what, mommy?

Me: What, Brody?

Brody: I love you.

***************************************

About an hour after bedtime, Brody calls out "MOMMMEEEEE!"

sigh.

Me: What Brody?

Brody: I'm scared.

Me: Scared of what?

Brody: I'm scared of the . . . um. . . . door.

Me: Uh-huh. You're scared of the door?

Brody: Yeah, I'm scared of the door.

Me: Are you lying because you just don't want to go to sleep?

Brody: Yeah. I don't want to go to sleep.

***************************************

Jeremy dropped Brody off at pre-school. Brody's self-appointed caretaker, a 5 year old girl named C, immediately started talking to him. Jeremy asked Brody, "Who is that, Brody?"

Brody responded, "That's C, she my friend."

Jeremy replied, "Oh, is she your girlfriend?"

Brody, horrified, said, "NO! Mommy is my girlfriend."

I'm baaaack

Blogger is back at work. I'm using it.

I've traveled across the state (5 hours each way) too many times to count this month while avoiding rock slides and blizzards. I am exhausted, and busy, but I have a new appreciation for men and women who leave their children to serve in the armed forces. Truly,  I don't know how they do it. I suppose they do it with broken hearts.

I cannot believe it is March 22. Still need tickets to France. And passports. We go this week for the latter.

The mom of one of Brody's classmates invited me to an adult toy party.

I feel odd because our connection is through our young children.

I might go. What the hell.

The mom is really nice and sweet and not weird or creepy. I anticipate it will be a bunch of suburban moms drinking a bit and laughing a lot. Maybe I'll host one of those parties.

A friend of mine asked me to take over her booth for a craft fair sort of thing in early April. I'm torn about what to do. I could make a bit of money though for France.

What have I missed?

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Up up and away

Two things are happening: my office finally blocked blogspot/blogger from use AND I'm traveling for work for pretty much the month of March. Right now, for example, I'm in my hotel room, away from my boys, and staring in disbelief at the amount of stuff I bring with me when it's just me traveling.

And I still forgot my business suit. Thank God Ross Dress for Less is open til 7pm on a Sunday. Found a jacket dress on clearance for $14.99.

I have some questions though.

How can my bunion-y feet hurt if all I've done is wear Danskos and sit all day?

How can a hotel charge $14.99 for a movie that isn't porn? (Up in the Air/New Moon)

How can I have a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup in front of me and not eat it?

How could I have forgotten how incredible beer tastes after driving for half a day?

Am I the only one who, in every hotel hallway, ALWAYS thinks of The Shining?

Finally, I'd like your help- I have eight openings on my 40 before 40 list.

Any ideas?



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