Entertainment or Way Beyond: A Child's Death Twittered

Twitter has been in the news, for better or worse, for the past year or so. Some people use Twitter for the odd updates, others are addicted to it or like to use it for shock value. One famous case occurred just a couple of months ago when Penelope Trunk twittered about her miscarriage during a meeting.

Some people were disgusted with her cavalier attitude, while others applauded her for her open communication. Others just shrugged their shoulders in a "what can you do? fashion.

But now, Twitter and its reach is under fire again, for a much more tragic reason. Shellie Ross, a 38-year-old mother, twittered that her son was drowning - her two-year-old son. He had fallen into the family swimming pool and emergency services were trying to rescue him.

Many people are harshly critical of Ross and her twittering. There were reports that she twitters extensively and this gave people license to blame her twittering for lack of parenting. Of course, this can't be a conclusion to be drawn - we don't know the woman at all. But it's out there. But, is that really that issue that is drawing such ire? Or is it the fact that someone has the presence of mind to twitter as people are trying to resuscitate her child?

I'm sure that the last thing on her mind was to draw such attention to herself and her family tragedy. The loss of a two-year-old is a major, major tragedy. But she has, unwittingly, brought this to the attention of millions of people.

Is twittering for entertainment only? Or, as Ross meant it to be, for support and prayer at a time of extreme need? What do you think?

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Dislocated shoulders, concussions and a move: still very grateful

It's been a busy few months. We sold our house after having it on the market for about 8 months, bought a new place in the city (we were in a suburb) and moved. It all ended up happening quite quickly once we sold our house.

Stress takes a toll on your body, whether it's a good stress or a bad one. It's known that changing jobs - even a good change, moving, marrying, divorcing, having a baby, and so on, are all stressful times in our lives. It's important to stay healthy during those times because once you do start getting run down, it's hard to get back up to full form.

Luckily for us, we stayed pretty healthy for the most part, although I think that stress did get to us from time to time.

This past Friday, the 11th, was moving day. The big day. So, as the movers were taking the furniture from our home, I went to my car and, before I knew it, I was on the ground - in agony. I have no memory of falling at all, just lying on the ground with a shoulder that hurt more than anything I'd ever experienced in my life. Worse than childbirth, without a doubt.

It turns out that I separated my left shoulder, so off to the hospital for some major drugs to knock me out so they could reset the shoulder. In the meantime, the move was going on. Thank God for capable children who are now adults. They had no idea what to do, but they managed and they did a fantastic job.

After five hours (about) in the hospital, my husband and I headed for our new home. Of course, now I can't do anything, so all my plans are out the window. After a quick supper, the youngest (18) goes off to coach floor hockey as he does every Friday night. Problem was, while he was there, he whacked his head good and hard on a wall overhang as he ran down some stairs. The result? A mild concussion and sutures in his scalp. Oops. That's got to hurt.

Ok, so now the new place is a mess and two of the three people living here are out of commission. but you know what? That's ok. That's very ok.

The place is perfect to me. The bathroom that I had redone, is perfect, amazing, gorgeous. It fits the style of this 1930 building perfectly. The rooms are actually big enough for the furniture I kept; I thought it was going to be crowded.

Despite being just below a busy street, it is so quite and peaceful here, very similar to what we left. Very, very quiet, even at night. It's likely noisier in the summer when the people in the apartment building next door have windows open, but that's city living, right?

I love the place.

Some people thought we were nuts moving into a second floor flat/condo but I think it was exactly the right thing to do.

Oh, did I mention that I absolutely love the place? I never felt this way about any of our previous homes. *This* is the one that was meant to be. :-)

Sore shoulder? Yeah, but that will go away. This feeling of being home? That, my friends, is here to stay.