Not so fast

Last Sunday we were eating dinner when Lilly decided to show us how fast she was. Or rather that she was faster than a cheetah. Her chosen course went through the kitchen where Josie had been playing with a number of items from the cupboard, including a bowl, an open package of spaghetti noodles and a dozen or so cookie cutters. You can probably guess where this is going. I certainly wish I had. As Lilly sped through the mess, she suddenly screamed and she began to cry in that frantic manner every parent dreads. I leapt from the kitchen table, scooped her off the ground, and peeled back the hem of her dress to find a large flap of skin hanging from the back of her heel. I'm not sure, but I think it was either in the shape of a Halloween cat or a Thanksgiving turkey. In any case, it would eventually require 8 stitches to close.

This was the first time as I parent that I'd been tested by a medical emergency and while it made it sick to my stomach, I learned just what a wonderful, brave little girl I have. Only a couple minutes after it happened, Lilly, had already calmed herself down and had stopped crying. By the time we were in the car, you wouldn’t have even known there was a problem. Throughout the experience, Lilly did everything I asked her to do without complaint, even when she knew it was going to hurt. But what touched me the most was her response to incredible pain she felt when she was being given shots to numb the wound. As Lilly began screaming, she must have realized how loud and scary this was because her cries soon contained directions for us to “cover Josie’s ears.” I can’t tell you how proud it made me to see her concern for her sister during the most painful and, perhaps, scariest moment of her life. Being a dad is pretty good stuff.