Thursday afternoon Dr. Lewis Purnell died.  He was my pediatrician.  He was my mom’s boss for many years.  He was the man I chose to care for my children.  For all of the people who never met him I am sorry for you.  There really aren’t any words to describe how completely amazing he was. 

6 weeks ago he was diagnosed with a fairly rare and aggressive form of cancer.  He was only given 6 months to live.  It was an incredibly painful battle and for that, I am thankful he went quickly.  Unfortunately he was young and his youngest child is still in high school.  I can’t imagine what his family is going through.  I took Alison to him for her 6 month checkup in July and he was fine.  That was the last time I saw him.

Dr. Purnell is the type of doctor that didn’t just assess whether or not your child had an ear infection.  He would come in the room and take charge (in a good way).  He would answer my questions before I could ask them.  He not only diagnosed what was wrong but would tell you what to look for if it gets worse, tell you what the baby is feeling, what to expect as it heals or gets worse, how long it should last etc.  He would tell me all these things before I could even ask. 

At well baby visits he didn’t just give shots, chart growth and tell you nutritional guidelines.  He guided you on what you should be doing as a parent in this stage.  For example, when Reed was in the office for his nine month checkup Dr. Purnell started coaching me on discipline.  Obviously I don’t have any experience with other doctors, but I doubt that all doctors take that kind of time and care with their patients. 

His philosophy on raising kids matched perfectly with mine.  I don’t like to follow rules just because they are rules.  I like to make informed decisions and he completely supported that.  For example, I know the guideline was to keep your child rear facing until they were 12 months old (and yes, I know it has changed to 2 years old now).  I asked Dr. Purnell his opinion about that when Reed was about 9 months old.  His response “yes, it is safest for the child to be rear facing until 12 months.  It is also safest for a 40 year old man to be rear facing, but that isn’t very practical.”  He told me that he turned his own children when they were 11 months old and that he agreed it was fine for me to do so also.  Like I say, I know this isn’t the kind of approach all parents would take, but it was in complete agreement with my parenting attitude. 

You wouldn’t believe how much losing my favorite doctor has affected me.  I’m at a loss for how to pick a new doctor.  I really want to bury my head in the sand and not even try, but that’s not an option.  More than anything I hurt for his sweet family.  He was such a fantastic leader in the office and an even more fantastic head of his family.  He was so full of life and had SO much left to offer this world. 

When I laid down to go to sleep on Thursday (Randy was still in the living room) all I kept thinking was that his sweet wife has to lay down alone forever.  I don’t want to think about how empty and lost she must feel.  (Randy you aren’t allowed to die before me).  And her pain is forever.  He was her partner, and now she is alone.  He won’t be around to walk his daughter down the aisle.  He won’t ever hold his grand babies.  And what an awesome grandfather he would have been.

One final funny story…when I was a kid (like 10 or so) my mom still worked at Dr. Purnell’s office.  My dad is self employed and didn’t have health insurance (don’t ask).  He got stung by a bee and it was swelling up and making him nervous.  So what did he do?  He went to see Dr. Purnell of course!!  And of course Dr. Purnell cheerfully treated him and sent him on his way.  We still laugh about that one.

I will leave you (after this super long post) with some pictures of Dr. Purnell with my kids.  Dr. Purnell I miss you greatly.  I can’t think about you and your family without sobbing.  I don’t know how this community will continue without you, but I pray you will watch out for my little ones from heaven.  And I’m thankful you are dancing pain free up there with Jesus and my sister.

The annual tailgate has changed in persona over the years, and probably the most in the last 2 or 3. Gone are the days of drinking heavily, pitching washers and watching every down of the Aggie game (in person or on TV). This year was a full-blown kidfest, and it’s only the beginning. There were 4 toddlers, an infant, and 4 pregnant mothers!

The game against Mizzou was a blowout loss. It’s probably a good thing that it wasn’t close (or even a win) because most of the dads spent their time chasing and entertaining the toddlers. Scott and I, along with John and Amanda, attempted a game of washers off to the side… but after only 2 turns Scott and I were called back to the front line of duty. (Sorry Amanda!)

I have a feeling these toddler years will be a struggle for any of us to really visit and relax at our annual tailgate. We still look forward to them and enjoy the interaction of our kids for the time being. I promise one day in the future we will again be able to enjoy an entire adult beverage without forgetting where we set it down to chase our kids.

-RB

We love our neighborhood and more importantly our street.  On Saturday of last week the doorbell rang and there were 5 little girls and a mom on the doorstep.  One little girl handed me a handmade invitation to a street party the next evening.  Who does that anymore??  It was SO cute.

Sunday we loaded Reed into the wagon and took our cooler and my black bean and corn dip 3 houses down to the end of the cul de sac.  All the families in our cul de sac were there with their kids and their dogs and lots of food.  It was such a fun evening.  (Of course we capped it off by bringing out some puppies for everyone to play with.)  This street party is an annual event, but the timing made it feel like a welcoming party for us.  We finally live on the kind of street where all the neighbors like each other and the kids trade off playing at each other’s houses every day.  I can only imagine how the summer will be 🙂 

Every night last week about 10 minutes after I got home with Reed I would hear the doorbell ring.  Standing outside was a whole group of children that wanted to come in the backyard and play with the puppies.  Sometimes they stay for 30 minutes and sometimes their parents have to come looking for them because it’s been an hour or two.  Needless to say I am in heaven.  I just love our street, our neighbors, and the multitude of children on our street.  One family has 10 children (yes, 10), one family has 8, and one family has 4.  The rest of us are the normal 1-3 kids. 

All these children equal lots of little hands to cuddle and play with the puppies so each one is well socialized, but it also means lots of future babysitters!!  Most of the children are older than Reed, but there is one little boy named Jonathon who is only 1 year and 3 weeks older than him.  Jonathon was adopted from Russia (by the family with 10 kids).  He and Reed have the same coloring and for now look very similar to each other.  It’s SO cute!  Last night we had the puppies in the front yard to run the sprinkler in the back and we took Reed and Jonathon for a ride around the cul de sac in the wagon.  They are at the ‘parralel play’ stage so they just stared at each other.  So stinking cute!!!  I only wish we had pictures to share…but we had our hands full!!