Here is the photo of Presley Bella I promised yesterday. Isn’t she gorgeous?!
Life certainly is uncertain. Saul gathered our trash and set out down the driveway this morning to put it out for pickup. We had just been commenting over our quick 6:45 a.m. breakfast that we had received a dusting of snow last night. On the way back up the driveway to leave for school, he slipped on a snow-covered patch of ice, landing on his right hip and elbow. After the initial shock, he went on to teach, but called me around 10:30 a.m. between classes to let me know he was going to the doctor when the office opened at noon because the arm had gotten worse. The doctor sent him on to Abington Hospital after that for x-rays which showed that his arm definitely had a break in it.
When he returned home, driving with his left arm, he put his arm in the sling that was left over from his stroke, and that I have been using from time-to-time since I injured my left arm. He took the prescribed pain killer, and is now resting a little more comfortably, but wondering how he will be able to sleep. Are we falling apart because we are getting old, or is all this just a series of unfortunate events? I picked up a bag that was too heavy; he hit a patch of ice; and even the stroke two years ago had a parallel in a twenty-something woman across the hall in the hospital whose stroke was in exactly the same place as Saul’s. I hope it is just a series of unfortunate events and that we are not falling apart piece by piece. Some days, in this cold dreary weather, it seems that way.
Tomorrow morning, the orthopedists will be setting his arm. Adele is coming first thing to stay with Mom so that I can cover for Saul, who was supposed to take our friend Larry to have a colonoscopy first thing in the morning. I’m dropping him off, coming back to take Saul to the doctor, and then our friend Faith will bring Larry home after his procedure. I don’t know whether to be happy or sad that dinner will be a very scaled-down event tomorrow evening. Faith has a grandson’s birthday party. Adele has a dinner engagement. Beth has another engagement as well. And who knows how Larry will feel? It is nice to have a break, but sometimes having dinner for just us gets a little melancholy.
I finished up my publication and was able to get it to the printer right on deadline today. I glazed the maple angel food cake, which looks homey and inviting—something to look forward to having for dessert tomorrow evening. Most of the other angel food cake is gone already. I made us all mushroom omelets for dinner. Jamie called us this afternoon and was very bubbly. Mom lit up when she spoke to her on the phone. Below, Saul put the photo at the top onto Mom’s digital picture frame and froze it with Presley’s photo. Note the big smile!
This evening Ken called and we heard the origins of the name, Presley. Evidently Andy and Jamie had decided on the name, Preston, for a boy. When they learned they were having a girl and were discussing names while they were vacationing in Italy, an Elvis impersonator arrived at their café to perform. They took that as a sign and the rest is history. I believe the Bella is for my father’s mother. I think that is the story, but if I have gotten any of the details wrong, I’m sure they will be corrected in the future. Jamie did have a relatively easy labor and was able to give birth naturally as she wanted with her mother, sister and husband in attendance.
1 comment:
Before I comment on this post, let me just say that I am very fortunate to have a laid back baby girl who is sitting very calmly and quietly in her boppy pillow next to me as I type this.
Presley Bella is named for her grandfather, Philip Strongin. It is correct that if she were a boy, we were going to name her Preston. When we learned that she was a girl, we searched through many baby name books until Andy, my husband, discovered the name Presley. We both liked it very much, but were still considering others at the time. During my second trimester, we vacationed in Italy (Rome, Florence, and Venice). While in Florence, right in the middle of our trip, we were walking along a back street (with no cars or motorcycles to be seen) on our way to dinner, when an Elvis impersonator started walking right in front of us (or maybe it was really Elvis himself...). It was just him and us. There was no one else on the street. Then, as we decided where to go to dinner, about an hour later, he crossed our paths again on a completely different street. I didn't realize how coincidental this was until we were sitting down to dinner and going through names for like the 40th time. Then, I remembered the name Presley... and I said to Andy, "You know, we've seen Elvis a couple times tonight, maybe it's a sign that we should name our daughter Presley after all." But, what to use as her middle name? We then went through our nightly ritual of coming up with funny Italian names. Then, we started to get more serious about some real possibilities. When we got to Bella, which means beautiful, we actually liked the way they sounded together. Yes, it is true that my middle name, Beth (or my Hebrew/Yiddish middle name that was given to me: Bela) was chosen by my parents in honor of my grandfather's mother. It is very similar, but it is not the reason we named her Bella. It is easy to see, now that she is here, why her middle name means beautiful in Italian.
Stay tuned for a new posting of my labor story in the near future, if you are interested, and of course, more pictures of Presley Bella Parker.
In other news, I am sorry to hear about Uncle Saul's arm. How is he feeling? I will call in the next day or two to check in. Love to all.
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