{"id":12657,"date":"2015-10-28T08:12:38","date_gmt":"2015-10-28T15:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/?p=12657"},"modified":"2015-11-28T14:50:07","modified_gmt":"2015-11-28T21:50:07","slug":"triggered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/?p=12657","title":{"rendered":"Triggered."},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you heard about this?\u00a0 Trigger warnings<\/a> are all the rage.\u00a0 Or not.<\/a> Apparently, trigger etiquette is up for grabs.\u00a0 I used to find the whole concept very confusing.\u00a0 After all, my life might be interesting enough for an occasional blog post, but not interesting enough to result in trauma.\u00a0 Or at least not the kind of trauma that can’t be fixed by meeting a friend for a hike.\u00a0 Or a chocolate bar library<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Which isn’t to say I don’t have any experience with triggering events.\u00a0 To me, a trigger represents the event that clearly sets another event in motion.\u00a0 Sometimes, like Newton said<\/a>, it is an equal and opposite reaction.\u00a0 Sometimes it’s more like Karma.\u00a0 Which is this:<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Either way, it leaves you looking back and thinking, “Uh-oh.”<\/p>\n

For example, the kids all had well visits with their pediatrician this past summer.\u00a0 I made the appointments because I am a concerned and caring parent that stays on top of her kids’ medical health.\u00a0 Also, because I signed up for accident and critical illness insurance at work.\u00a0 Which is usually a waste of insurance premiums.\u00a0 Except, in this case, the accident and critical illness insurance provider pays out $50 for an annual well visit for each covered member.\u00a0 For my family of 6 that translates into a $300 payout.\u00a0 Since the accident and critical illness insurance only costs a $294.17 a year, our coverage turns to be free.\u00a0 As long as we get our well visits.\u00a0 Which are covered for free under our regular health insurance.\u00a0 That proves there is<\/em> an advantage to having 4 kids.\u00a0 I’ll try not to spend my $5.83 all in one place.<\/p>\n

Of course, I recognize that sitting in the doctors office with a healthy child can be a challenge.\u00a0 You can’t sit down, touch the reading materials, or even look at the water fountain.\u00a0 I’m pretty sure just looking at the water fountain can give you hand foot and mouth disease.\u00a0 (Why the heck is there a water fountain in that germ joint anyway?????)\u00a0 But my real mistake was lecturing the kids ahead of time about talking to their doctor.\u00a0 At their ages I expect them to handle most of a well visit by themselves and after going over the general information with the pediatrician, I left the room.\u00a0 That way they could discuss any health questions with the doctor in privacy.\u00a0 I sat in the waiting room, pondering the fact that my biggest concern at the pediatrician’s office was if my kids remembered to add “sir” or “ma’am” at the end of their sentences when talking to the doctor, nurses, or office staff.\u00a0 In a world of children dealing with chronic disease, debilitating injuries, and death, all I had to worry about was manners<\/em>.\u00a0 The unwarranted blessing of that was stunning.\u00a0 Practically embarrassing.\u00a0 And although we left with a clean bill of health and up-to-date immunizations, taking the kids to a successful well visit triggered exactly what it does every time.\u00a0 A freak series of illness:<\/p>\n

–ear infections and swimmers itch for Middle and Little subsequent to swimming in a relative’s pond<\/p>\n

–bad case of poison ivy on the face<\/em> for Pretty subsequent to lying prone in a field during a dove hunt<\/p>\n

–chiggers for Little subsequent to a weekend hike<\/p>\n

— a head cold for Big<\/p>\n

and, as an extra bonus, a painful eye infection for me.\u00a0 The co-pays and trips to the pharmacy for all that ate up my $5.83.\u00a0 Plus some more.\u00a0 But that’s the way triggers work.\u00a0 Sitting too long thinking about your healthy family is like taking a nice, long drink from that nasty water fountain.\u00a0 It’s just begging for hand foot and mouth.\u00a0 We probably got off easy.<\/p>\n

Then there’s my trigger at work.\u00a0 A few months ago I showed up for work right on time.\u00a0 Which is more alarming then it sounds.\u00a0 I always show up 20-30 minutes early for my shift.\u00a0 Because I am anal retentive<\/span> responsible.\u00a0 But on that particular morning, I had forgotten to pack my lunch the night before, I couldn’t find any black socks without holes in the heel, and the dogs wouldn’t come back in after going outside to the bathroom.\u00a0 So I was hitting the road to work with just enough time to spare.\u00a0 At 5:50 am my work partner called to see if I was OK.\u00a0 Because everyone was wondering why I wasn’t already at the station.\u00a0 I didn’t answer because I was driving down a dark, curvy, country road at an almost-late-to-work speed and it didn’t seem prudent to dig in my pocket for my cell phone.\u00a0 At 5:55 am my partner and the outgoing crew started talking about which way I drove to work and if someone should get in their car and drive my 3 mile commute to see if I was OK.\u00a0 Because I am so anal retentive<\/span> responsible that if I’m not early, it’s completely reasonable that I am lying in ditch, trapped in my mangled car, too injured to call for help.\u00a0 At 5:58 am I pulled into the station and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.\u00a0 Because I was OK.\u00a0 And also because now they could go home after their shift.\u00a0 Mainly because I was OK….Probably.\u00a0 Maybe.\u00a0 Eh.<\/p>\n

Too bad that when a anal retentive <\/span>responsible person like me is right on time for work, instead of 20-30 minutes early, it’s a powerful trigger.\u00a0 Before I could unload my car, we were dispatched to our first call.\u00a0 When we cleared that call, we were immediately sent to another.\u00a0 My partner started looking at me, suspiciously.\u00a0 On our next call we were given one address over the radio but a completely different one over our computer. Which was confusing.\u00a0 Then we went to a structure fire, which was our second fire call of the day.\u00a0 As we watched flames soaring over the roof of the home (no one was hurt) and handed out water bottles to firefighters, 2 more structure fire calls went out over the radio in different parts of the county.\u00a0 My partner looked at me, seriously.<\/p>\n

“You did this.\u00a0 Make it stop.”<\/p>\n

“You’re right,”\u00a0 I agreed.\u00a0 I closed my eyes and tried to picture my usual work routine—-pulling my prepacked lunch out of the fridge and putting it in my lunch box, getting dressed in my uniform that was laid out neatly ahead of time with hole-free socks, the dogs trotting obediently back inside after their morning routine for their breakfast biscuit.\u00a0 As the images unrolled in my head I thought to myself, “reset, reset, reset, reset….”\u00a0 But my thoughts were interrupted by the emergency tones.\u00a0 They needed us at a car wreck only a few miles away.\u00a0 When we got there, we found more patients than we could transport (everyone lived) and had to call an ambulance from another county for assistance.\u00a0 Because resetting a trigger is lot harder than setting one off.\u00a0 Triggers are like that.\u00a0 It’s true what they say:\u00a0 Keep your finger off the trigger unless you’re ready to shoot.\u00a0 Also, pack your lunch and lay out your clothes the night before work.<\/p>\n

Regardless, these types of triggers aren’t the same as the triggers in the news.\u00a0 The triggers that deserve warnings tend to be events or experiences that invoke memories of other traumatic events or experiences.\u00a0 Those kind of triggers were unknown to me.\u00a0 Until I went into the kidding barn yesterday.\u00a0 I fed Allie and watched as her kids gathered round the feed trough.\u00a0 The kids have started nibbling grain alongside their mom.\u00a0 The farmer in me approved of this behavior as kids that start eating solids early are healthy, vigorous, and easier to wean.<\/p>\n

But as I watched as the doeling shoved her head right next to Allie’s face in the trough, I felt a little queasy.\u00a0 Allie, being\u00a0 a nursing mother, was starving.\u00a0 Why did the kid have to push her out of the way? And\u00a0 I remembered all those years of being starving, watching my family sit down to eat, but always having to nurse the baby before I could join them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Then the other kid joined in and also crammed next to Allie, trying to get at the exact bits of grain that she was eating.\u00a0 Knocking into the trough and spilling food everywhere.\u00a0 I took a horrible picture.\u00a0 Because I was feeling faint.\u00a0 And my hands were shaking.\u00a0 And I remembered all the years of balancing an infant on my lap as the infant grabbed my fork halfway to my mouth, spilled my drink, yanked the plate onto our laps, spilling food all over us.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Finally, the grain was gone and Allie headed over to her hay rack for some roughage.\u00a0 The doeling followed and started nibbling on hay, too.\u00a0 The exact piece of hay that was dangling out of Allie’s mouth.\u00a0 And my heart started pounding.\u00a0 I could barely breathe.\u00a0 Because I remembered trying to eat while a toddler whined about wanting what I was eating.\u00a0 Which was the exact same thing as what was on the toddler’s plate. <\/em>Except mine was better, obviously.\u00a0 He needed my food.\u00a0 Now.\u00a0 Mommy.\u00a0 I want it!\u00a0 Mommy!\u00a0 Now!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And I lost it.<\/p>\n

OH, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, LET HER EAT HER FOOD IN PEACE!!!!!\u00a0 AAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Huh.\u00a0 That sh*t is for real, people.<\/p>\n

To think I’ve been posting pictures of baby goats on this blog for years.\u00a0 Without any warnings.\u00a0 As if they weren’t frightening, grain-gobbling, food hogs capable of sending any mother into cold sweats.<\/p>\n

I’m sorry.<\/p>\n

Caution:\u00a0 Baby Goats Are Not As Innocent and Harmless As They Appear.\u00a0 View At Your Own Risk.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

There.<\/p>\n

Nailed it. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Because politically correct is what I do, people. \u00a0 It’s what I do.
\n<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you heard about this?\u00a0 Trigger warnings are all the rage.\u00a0 Or not. Apparently, trigger etiquette is up for grabs.\u00a0 I used to find the whole concept very confusing.\u00a0 After all, my life might be interesting enough for an occasional blog post, but not interesting enough to result in trauma.\u00a0 Or at least not the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12657"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12966,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12657\/revisions\/12966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}