Laura’s Stuff

Howdy.  I’m Laura, formerly known here as “Laura(LS)”.  The LS comes from my incognito appearance on That Other Blog where I ‘met’ Joy.  It stands for Laura Sue.  Yeah, a good hillbilly name.  Too bad I grew up just outside Chicago.  But it fits now.  I live in Iowa, out in the country.

I’m 39  (for the first time), married for almost 16 years to Steve, and we have one son, Josh.  At the moment, my full time job is Mom.  And I love it.

Steve and I met in college, dated all through, and married a little less than a year after graduation.  We’ve lived in Illinois, Texas, Indiana, and now, Iowa.  Josh came a month before our tenth wedding anniversary, and is the light of our lives.  He’s an imp, constantly on the go, and wicked smart.  I often call him Hot Rod, since he’s so into cars, airplanes, boats… pretty much anything transportation that has a motor.

Last year, at the beginning of May 2008, Steve was in a car wreck (known going forward as “The Wreck”), where he cartwheeled his SUV through a ditch during the wee hours of the morning.  He lay in a field, soaking wet and freezing, for about four hours, until a passing neighbor found him (we live in a VERY rural area).  He survived, but his sight did not.  Since then, our family has been in a state of adaptation and transition.  Adaptation, in that we are learning to live, as a family, with a disability.  No more leaving cars (or laundry baskets) in the middle of the hallway floor!  And transition… where do we go from here?  He can’t do the job that he once did, in finance, at least not yet.  Who will be the breadwinner?  Who stays home?  What are our roles now?  And how do we do all this and still be good parents to Josh?

It’s a learning curve, and it’s an amazing journey, learning all this stuff.  Some of this stuff, truthfully, I never WANTED to learn!  But as Tori Amos recently said, “if it’s on your plate, then it’s your time to learn this at Earth School.”  Kinda weird, but yeah, I get it.

I only know Joy, Nikki and Sue through the Internet.  As I said, Joy and I met over at That Other Blog, and struck up a friendship over a football rivalry.  (It’s a shame that such a nice lady is a Vikings Fan!!  Go Bears!)  I’m hoping that one day, sooner rather than later, we’ll get to meet for real, face to face.

Joy has graciously offered an “out” for my writing passion.  I’ve done little bits here and there, including a stint with the local paper, and keeping my own blog, and now I’m excited to pull a chair up to her table, and join in the conversation.   I’m very excited to join, and look forward to throwing in my twenty cents (inflation, you know!)