a matter of time

 

this picture was taken with my phone in the ER late last monday night. the following morning (brian's b-day) it was sent to the phones of some of our favorite people without any explanation. chelsea was the first to call back, i picked up and heard-"what was he climbing on!"

of course he was climbing. climbing on a planter wall outside a restaurant. i didn't get to him in time. he fell. the fall itself wasn't bad, and this mother of three was telling him to get up and shake it off. he was crying, but not the i'm really hurt cry. no screaming. luckily, i wasn't alone.

kim: he's holding his arm, i think there's something wrong with his arm.
me: no, he's fine- look (moving his wrist and elbow to demonstrate that everything worked)
kim: don't do that.

then i saw it- the unnatural arch in his right forearm. i panicked. cried. scrambled for my phone. kim and scott shuffled car seats and kids. i stood in a fog trying to comfort my baby and keep his arm steady. scott took the girls home and kim loaded levi and i in her hummer and drove us to the hospital.

i made a number of frantic phone calls: first to brian's dad- i knew he would answer, i knew they would be there, they always are when we need them. his voice was calm and knowing he would take care of the girls comforted me. i took a gamble calling brian, hoping that he had forgotten to turn his phone off during class, he hadn't. then i called uncle timmy (brian's boss) at home hoping he could reach someone at the school. no such luck, but tim offered to take care of the girls or come sit with me at the hospital.

levi sat in his car seat whimpering, holding his arm during the 10 minute drive. at the ER they took us right in and the little champ let them examine his arm, take x-rays, and fit a soft cast. both bones in the middle of his right forearm were broken. he insisted on walking out of the hospital by himself when we were done, giving the nurses and doctors left-handed high fives and knuckles the whole way.

to my son, thank you for being such a brave little man. we knew it was only a matter of time, but couldn't you have waited a while?