the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat!

My nephew, Brandon and son, Brady have had their shares of "mishaps!" Both Brandon and Brady are always playing every video game, basketball 'one on one' game, race, monopoly or whatever, like it was the Olympics. Each game was the "championship!!" Well, here is what has happened to both in the past year. Brady has dislocated and had surgery on BOTH shoulders! He was playing football in high school for the original injury. But intramural basketball, fraternity boxing, jumping off cliffs into a lake and throwing snowballs at an annoying kid has been the subsequent reasons for the need for surgery. Brandon is recovering from a broken nose which resulted in surgery a few weeks back and he was diving for the ball last week (in what I am sure was another Olympic championship sand volleyball game) in which he spent 7 hours in the ER and looks like the elephant man.

That led to the discussion of how many times we have visited the ER during their childhood.

Lindsey's were limited to a few breaks, falling out of trees, head butts in soccer and high fever.

But Brady... not counting the many visits for pneumonia when he was a baby, we had to visit often. He almost had his ear completely severed by a golf club by a 4th grade classmate, we found out he was highly allergic to penicillin and then again visited for a really bad reaction to ibuprofen. (I was detained for a bit while they questioned me for possible abuse! That was a scary one, his blood vessels burst all over his face he was swelling so quickly.) Then we have the knee injuries, bleeding head from wake boarding... shoulder dislocations and the other normal ER visits.

But as I sit here writing this blog, I am listening to the yells of triumph and the screams of defeat while some sort of game (I am sure it is for the championship!!) is being played in my living room. Brady is 3 weeks shy of turning 21 and Brandon is 7 months older. I have a feeling that this is going to be the norm for these 2 cousins that have had the worst fights ever, but love each other dearly. When they become married, grown men with their own kids... I doubt it will be any different.