Lauren recently said pensively:
Mom, I think I have a strange feeling. I don't know what it is...but I think I might be....worried.
This is her in a nutshell. Worry is a rare novelty. She's a laid-back, come-what-may-and-love-it kind of gal, our Lauren. She has always been completely unfamiliar with that feeling of worry or anxiety--even in the midst of her junior year of high school, with SAT prep classes, finals and midterms, SAT exams, college placement guidance counseling, state fencing championships, Latin tests, and rhetoric papers. Lauren floats above it all in her sunshiney land of it'll-all-work-out.
. . .
She has had us worried lately, however. Her heart's been acting up for a while and--being the awesome mom that I am--I ignored it for a while. (Example: "Mom, my heart's beating really fast." "Okay, well go sit down until you feel better." Nonchalant parenting, anyone?) But it has gotten worse over the last months (yes, I know. Months. See? Awesome) so we mentioned it to our pediatrician when Lauren went in for her yearly physical. She was referred to a cardiologist and given a heart monitor to wear around for a month to see if it could catch one of the episodes she's been having.
Did it ever: racing up to 4 times the usual rate about every other day.
It looks like she's headed for a procedure on her heart this spring, a catheter ablation to fix the electrical misfiring that's happening (supra ventricular tachycardia). It's a common procedure, one that her doctors do often, and it carries very little risk. But still, my mama heart worries (I'm good at that).
Not Lauren, though. She just wants to get it over with in time to travel this summer. Because it'll all work out, of course.
Bless her fast-beating, little bit broken, happy heart.
Can you imagine how laid back she'll be when her heart isn't racing??