Slice of Life - Grand Theft

Slice of Life is a weekly prompt to encourage writers to tell personal history stories. Click on the link to participate.

I wish I had a picture of Jaime's van. It was an old Voyager with faded blue paint but the air conditioning worked and it held all of Jaime's family and friends. Her father had helped her get it when the previous car died. She moved her CD/MP3 player into it from her old car and down the road it would go with the music playing, the baby seat in the back, full of groceries, kids and beach or camping gear. Everyone loved that old van. So you can imagine how she felt when she got up one morning and it was missing from the space right in front of her door. It was so ugly, she thought it was theft-proof.

Of course, the police came and took a report but there was no word. They found a stolen van with a baby seat in it but, unbelievably, it was a different van. (Come on, people! Who would steal an old van with a baby seat -- much less two?) Anyway, she didn't have replacement insurance so she made do with a borrowed car which was much smaller.

It was a year later when they called her and said the van had been found abandoned in Orlando. At first she was excited, but then she found out that it wasn't drivable and it had $300.00 of accrued storage fees. We appealed to her Dad for help and considered having the car towed, but he said to let it go. We didn't know what kind of shape it was in. It was like being robbed twice!

Tuberous Sclerosis Complex

Out little girl, not quite 5 years old, has been diagnosed with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex. Here is a definition from the TSC Alliance website: Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a genetic disorder that causes tumors to form in many different organs, primarily in the brain, eyes, heart, kidney, skin and lungs.

Mia has some benign growths in her brain that cause her to have seizures. The seizures are under control for the moment, but the future is very uncertain. We have discoverd that a ketogenic diet has been proven to be effective in controlling seizures so we are working hard to change our habits.

A ketogenic diet is based on an extremely low carbohydrate, high fat diet (think Atkins with more fat and less protein). We are learning. Our first step is to eliminate processed sugar and grains from Mia's diet as much as possible and to up the fat content. Bacon and eggs and a piece of fruit for breakfast and tuna salad and tomato for lunch are examples from menus I have seen. Mia's mom has never liked vegetables, but we are trying. It is a hard diet to follow and needs medical oversight but it can have amazing success in controlling seizures that are hard to control in any other way. BTW, I am not an expert on any ot this. Still in shock, actually. So if I have said anything incorrectly, please excuse me.

Bowling Party

Stephanie made a bowling ball cake.

Stephanie and her mom, Debbie

Allie and Steph

Jill's grandpa and her mom, Courtney

Hunter

Jaime and Aaron

Mia had fun and she got a strike!

Jill opening presents

Kids eating cake

Jill's new aquarium

Jill's bowling party was a great success. Stephanie made a great bowling ball cake. It was layered with chocolate cake and confetti cake. Stephanie bought a special pan to make the cake. I see a lot of soccer, basket and baseball cakes in our future. Jill squealed with delight at her presents and all her friends and family came. Mia was able to bowl with a special ramp they set up for her. She got a strike! Even Roger had a good time. All the other pictures are on Stephanie's camera because I forgot mine. BTW, after Stephanie went to all that trouble to make the cake Jill described, Jill said, "You could have just drawn the bowling ball with icing!"