Fright

It's the last week of summer break for Erica (and for that matter, me too - no more sleeping in!) so I'm cramming the next few days with fun activities that we didn't do in the past 8 weeks. Man, the time flew by! Yesterday, we went to an indoor pool with plenty of shallow areas. In her usual way, she surprised me in wanting to go down the big slide - over 30 feet in the air. I have to admit, I was a little afraid of sliding down it..... and at the last minute she decided not to do it (silently, I was relieved, for both of us!). As we walked back down the steps, she lost her footing and fell - practically bounced - down about 8 concrete steps. All I could do was watch. Talk about FRIGHT.

She was scared, a bit bruised, but mostly unharmed. I held her tight for awhile, then looked her over, searching for blood, jutting bones, scrapes and the like. All I found was a couple scrapes on the ribs and hip. Whew! After a few more minutes back in the water, she decided she wanted to go home. So did I. The pool gave us a refund, and did a quick check to be sure she didn't have a head injury. I think her head was the only thing that didn't get bumped on the way down! On the way home, we stopped for a strawberry shake, and I contemplated what the outcome could have been otherwise. I could be on the way to the hospital instead of sitting in McDonald's drive-thru. This is the thing with kids. Every second of their lives is precious, and just short of wrapping them in bubble wrap there isn't much you can do to fully protect them. Just when you worry about one thing, another takes it's place. And in one week I send her off to school, trusting that she will be safe with the other 480 kids. Maybe that's the fright I really feel....