The past three weeks
I feel like I’ve been slacking on school work, my internship and just photography in general the past month but I do have a legitimate reason. I managed to finish my finals and get them turned in on time even though most of it was all done at the last possible moment. I am officially done with my classes! We walk across the stage on the 21st and have a portfolio show the next day. (if you’d like to attend, e-mail me and I’ll give you the details.)
So, here’s the story of my past month:
My dad only comes home for two weeks every six months. He’s a DoD contractor currently working in Iraq. This year he came home for my mom’s birthday on May 13th. First time they’ve been together on one of their birthdays in five years. On the 19th they invited my Grandpa over to spend the day with them since my Dad was leaving that Sunday. I had to work that day so I wasn’t home and was a little bit disappointed. I did end up going home around 3:00 that day though because I wanted to hang out with them some. When I got home though, my Grandpa was in the front yard on the swing and my parents weren’t home. I went in the house and called Moms cell phone but it was on the kitchen counter. I called a few relatives to see if they knew anything but no one else had heard from them either. About 7:00 my parent’s finally got home. Mom limps out of the truck and to the front door. Her face is red and swollen and one of her hands is all bandaged up.
Earlier that day, they had decided to burn a pile of limbs that had been knocked down in a storm a few months ago. My mom had poured some gas on it to help it light and when she went to light it, it exploded in her face. She suffered 2nd degree burns on her face and hand. The nurses told her she was lucky it wasn’t 3rd degree.
She’s not supposed to go in the sun this summer at all because it will burn her face worse than it already is. Twice a day her bandage gets removed and reapplied. She has to shower with one hand (ever tried washing your hair with only one hand?). She can’t cook anything because the heat from the stove or oven hurts too bad. Getting laundry out of the dryer is impossible. She has figured out a way to work the computer mouse using her left hand so most of her day is spent on facebook chatting with people and playing games. We have to vacuum every day and sweep twice a day because we have animals and their hair sticks to the medicine she puts on her face. It’s really been no fun and I’m not even the one burnt.
We’ve been taking pictures every so often so that Dad can see how her hands healing (she won’t let me photographer her face) and here’s what I have so far:
This was two days after she burned it (21st):
This is two and half weeks later on June 6th:
June 8th:
June 13th (which happens to be a month after her birthday):
These are also on my Flickr.
