.
Sometimes memories take your breath away with a swift kick to the solar plexus. When I saw a recent Instagram photo my 15 yo took of her older sister it was one of those kicks and gasps of what-could-have-been because:
as every parent of teens knows, any phone conversation that begins with, "I'm o.k.," means that your peace of mind and the money saved for new carpeting is about to disappear.
A little over a year ago I got a phone call from my oldest daughter that began, "I'm o.k. but Sarah thinks she may have broken some teeth." They had gone long boarding...
Neglecting to also inform me that Sarah was covered in blood led me to direct them to meet me at the Dentist. Poor dentist. poor alarmed hygienist, waiting patients, secretary- I've never seen so many eyebrows at full alert of alarm as when I walked in the office to find out how much "fixing a couple of teeth," would cost.
We went straight to the hospital.
It's funny now, sort of, how when the E.R. doctor walked into the exam room holding her x-rays, he almost tripped and then walked out again only to return a few minutes later. I didn't know why until later, when Sarah was out of the room, he explained that he'd seen x-rays like her's before but those patients were all unconscious and permanently brain damaged as a result. Walking into the room and seeing Sarah drinking a coke and making jokes made him believe he had entered the wrong room.
The difference was, when Sarah's borrowed long board hit the rock at the bottom of the steep long hill she was zooming down (typing that makes me want to smack her even now) and launched her airborne, she automatically did something Karate class had trained her to do: a front breakfall. It saved her life.
Her jaw was still fractured in triplicate, her chin was still pretending to be an expensive jig-saw puzzle, her road rash was still painfully impressive and she still had to spend the next 3 months miserably horizontal.
But.... because of that successful breakfall a year ago here she is- belt-testing.
Isn't her jaw pretty?
.
Sometimes memories take your breath away with a swift kick to the solar plexus. When I saw a recent Instagram photo my 15 yo took of her older sister it was one of those kicks and gasps of what-could-have-been because:
as every parent of teens knows, any phone conversation that begins with, "I'm o.k.," means that your peace of mind and the money saved for new carpeting is about to disappear.
A little over a year ago I got a phone call from my oldest daughter that began, "I'm o.k. but Sarah thinks she may have broken some teeth." They had gone long boarding...
Neglecting to also inform me that Sarah was covered in blood led me to direct them to meet me at the Dentist. Poor dentist. poor alarmed hygienist, waiting patients, secretary- I've never seen so many eyebrows at full alert of alarm as when I walked in the office to find out how much "fixing a couple of teeth," would cost.
We went straight to the hospital.
It's funny now, sort of, how when the E.R. doctor walked into the exam room holding her x-rays, he almost tripped and then walked out again only to return a few minutes later. I didn't know why until later, when Sarah was out of the room, he explained that he'd seen x-rays like her's before but those patients were all unconscious and permanently brain damaged as a result. Walking into the room and seeing Sarah drinking a coke and making jokes made him believe he had entered the wrong room.
The difference was, when Sarah's borrowed long board hit the rock at the bottom of the steep long hill she was zooming down (typing that makes me want to smack her even now) and launched her airborne, she automatically did something Karate class had trained her to do: a front breakfall. It saved her life.
Her jaw was still fractured in triplicate, her chin was still pretending to be an expensive jig-saw puzzle, her road rash was still painfully impressive and she still had to spend the next 3 months miserably horizontal.
But.... because of that successful breakfall a year ago here she is- belt-testing.
Isn't her jaw pretty?
.
Posts
1 comment:
Wow! Just wow. I remember when the accident happened, but I had no idea it was THAT scary. And yes, her jaw is beautiful :)
Post a Comment