August 22, 2003 - 2 years after the accident
It's been a long time since I updated this site and I apologize for that!
Kim and Joel finally got their new home!! It isn't really new, but
it's new for them. *smiles* They've been spending months fixing and remodeling
to make it their own. She seems very happy with it and showed me a bunch
of pictures during her recent visit here. She still has her big white dog
(the one you've seen in photos) and she has a new kitty now sharing her home...and
of course she still has Joel...*winks* Her physical condition hasn't changed
a lot since the last update...she walks just fine, drives just fine, etc.
Her speech is still slurred, but understandable. I'm sure she's aggravated
by her speech since people pretend to understand her when they don't or
are constantly asking her to repeat herself. She still struggles with some
short-term memory loss, but it's nothing that terrible. All
in all, I think she's doing great! (Photos are near the
bottom of the page...keep scrolling!)
Mary and Kimmie spend a lot of time e-mailing each other...Mary has shared
quite a few of those e-mails with me and asked that I share them with you.
Here is the first e-mail that Mary sent to me (which explains why I'm including
these here now)...and then there are some clips from various e-mails Kim
has sent to her Mom (the places where you see a bunch of dots are just where
I've clipped out some personal stuff).
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Thought you might put some of this in Kim's file. It might help some families
to see that people do come back to us, and some of them with all the smarts
they had before their accident. Kimberly will probably always walk with
a slight palsy like walk and perhaps she may have a little bit of trouble
with her speech, but she's most definitely back in the ballgame! Tell
those families with loved ones that are hurt to never, never give up! Hope
and love and our beliefs are all we have to hold on to sometimes. Some days
will seem as all is lost. Keep on believing and muttle your way through that
day. Look them straight in the eye when talking with them or about them,
because they do understand. If you believe they can do it, they will believe!
Try to show you trust their decisions and abilities. When they say "I don't
know if I can", tell them you wouldn't ask them to try if you didn't think
that they were ready. Some of those" trying things" are scary. Like
the first time I let Kim drive. I let her do things long before her doctors
said she was ready because I knew that she could. It was our secret. We always
did have a special bond. Secrets and smiles. Because she was told she wasn't
ready, she tried even harder. There's no stopping her now. She will teach
again!
BELIEVE, Mary
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Mom-
It hasn't been that long, has it? No, 3 1/2 days more of school.
Thursday night I think we're going to a Royals game with my friend Sandy
and her husband, John. They'll be with a bunch of teachers. Sandy
taught across the hall from me and we rented her husband's house.
I was in their wedding..................................our master bedroom
has a cove ceiling with lights around it and can lights and is almost liveable.
Joel is removing the blue heart wallpaper as I type. We had lunch
with the neighbors today. (The ones across the street) Is it too late
to start a garden here? Joel was going to till up some space out back
for me to plant tomatoes and cucumbers and whatever else - do we still have
time? I have grown cilantro and basil in pots on the back porch.
I used the basil in a "tomato pie" - got the recipe off of T.V. Well,
I saw it on T.V. and then got it off of the Internet......................................I
love you and miss you. Please tell everyone hi for me. See you
soon!! -Kim
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It's been very warm here. The tomato pie was just sliced (peeled
and drained) tomatoes topped with salt and pepper, mayo mixed with cheddar
& mozzarella cheese, and put into a pie crust. It was okay..........................................................The
walls in the master are now the same color as the bathroom walls.
Tonight we got the room trimmed and the doors primed and painted white.
Well, I say, "we", but the truth is that I barely helped. I filled
out an application to teach today....................I also applied for
a para job -- working with special education students, which I've done before.
It doesn't pay near as much, but would pay as much as my disability and
has some benefits. Well, I love you and miss you. Please tell
everyone hi for me. See you soon!
-Kim
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(Here, Kim was explaining to her Mom how to use the word processing in
her e-mail program in reply to Mary asking how to do it...*chuckles* I'm
not sure what the mask thing was in reference to, but I left it in there
'cause it shows that she remembers stuff from her childhood.)
To underline or use italics or to bolden something you just highlight it
(use the cursor & click and drag over whatever you want underlined,
etc.) and then click the underlined "U" at the top - or the I
to italicize, or the B to bolden. If you can't figure it out,
Thomas or Grampa might know. I don't mind masks now, but I do remember them
scaring me - and I think it was because of that album cover. I love you.
-Kim
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Kim spent a lot of time visiting us this Summer since her Mom moved back
down here. She and I had fun cooking a big family meal together one afternoon!
The following are some pics I took while she was here. Enjoy! :)
Kimmie at the airport getting ready to go back home...
Kimmie and Mary...Summer 2003
Kim with Erika & Gabe (her niece & nephew)
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